In the past, several top Cuban baseball players have defected to the United States

May 3, 1999
Web posted at: 7:38 a.m. EDT (1138 GMT)

In this story: 'It is a dream for Cubans to play in the Major League' Prepared for protests Sanctions stick while teams play ball RELATED STORIES, SITES

BALTIMORE (CNN) -- Little is being said publicly about possible defections when Cuba's hand-picked national baseball team visits Baltimore for what promises to be a controversial exhibition game Monday against the Orioles.

And if leaving President Fidel Castro's Communist-run island for good is what some of the 25 Cuban players have in mind, it won't be easy.

Access to them will be tightly controlled; there are no public appearances other than on the field in Baltimore's Camden Yards stadium.

In addition, says U.S. sports agent Gus Dominguez, players who might be a defection risk won't even be making the trip. "There are players I know for fact are not coming," he told CNN, "because (the Cuban government) fears these players may defect. Younger players."

Cuba, which practices only amateur sports, has lost several of its top players to the United States through defections.

'It is a dream for Cubans to play in the Major League'

Pitcher Rene Arocha played for three seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals

Among them, Rene Arocha, who gave up local fame in 1991 for a chance to play in the big leagues. "I think it is a dream for the Cuban baseball players to play in the Major League, to be able to play the best baseball in the world," says Arocha, a pitcher who spent three seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.

There's also a financial incentive, according to Cuba scholar Pamela Falk. "A Cuban national team member makes about $18 a month and an American Major League baseball player can make up to $1 million a month," she told CNN, "so there's an obvious pull for Cuban players to defect."

Dominguez, who represents 14 baseball players from Cuba, says security didn't keep them from seeking asylum. "If a player comes from Cuba with the idea in mind he wants to defect, there's no security that's going to keep him from it. None."

In case he's right, U.S. immigration officials will be at the game.

Prepared for protests

Dominguez says high security cannot keep Cuban baseball players from defecting to the United States if they choose to leave

Hoping to prevent disruptions at Monday's game, the Orioles warned they will enforce a ban on political banners and musical instruments inside Camden Yards and eject fans for noisy protests.

Hundreds of anti-Castro protesters are expected from the New York area and Florida.

Disruptive fans will be warned once and will be escorted out of the stadium if they persist, the Orioles have said.

"If they are arrested, they may have a lawsuit on their hands since I understand the stadium was built with public funds, said Rep. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey. "So I'm not sure they have an absolute right to control free speech in the manner in which they are trying to control it."

Cuban exile groups also complain tickets have been sold in pairs, making it difficult for larger groups to sit together.

Baseball officials also have asked the Federal Aviation Administration to restrict the airspace over the stadium to prevent protesters from flying over and dropping leaflets.

Sanctions stick while teams play ball

Baseball games held between American and Cuban teams are an exception to a long-time U.S. economic embargo against the island nation

Monday's game gives the Cuban national team a chance to get even after a March 28 loss in Havana.

The Orioles, who finished next to last in the American League East division last year and are off to a dreadful start in 1999, narrowly beat Cuba in the first game, 3-2 in 11 innings at a packed Latinoamericano stadium.

The Cuban team will travel to Baltimore over the weekend as part of a 300-member delegation consisting of top sports officials, retired players, and 25 schoolchildren.

Some observers have dubbed the games as an attempt at "baseball diplomacy" between Cuba and the United States, referring to the so-called "ping-pong diplomacy" with China that helped thaw U.S.-China ties in the 1970s.

But officials on both sides have stressed it is a purely sporting exchange with no political overtones intended.

Washington, which maintains a 37-year-old economic embargo on Cuba, this year authorized the Orioles to visit the island and negotiate playing the games with Cuba in an exception to the sanctions.

Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella and Reuters contributed to this report.

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