Red Sox have explored the possibility of playing an exhibition game in Cuba
- Thread starter soxhop411
- Start date
Yeah, John Kerry is such a huge Red Sox fan that in 2004 he said his favorite player was "Manny Ortez."
We need a few live Cubans in this thread. I would love to know, for example, what it would mean to see El Tiante at such a game chomping on a cigar behind home plate. Probably not much to anyone under 40 but still. Obviously Castillo would give the rest of the Cuban fans a reason to be interested. And of course the symbolism of a recognizable team in town. Not to go all sandbox but a few ideas to toss out there:Dan to Theo to Ben said:
* Tiant as a symbol of all the departed players who suffered being cut off from the homeland and family. We all saw the documentary, I'd guess, and it was powerful stuff.
* Would they play a national team or another MLB squad? An idea, if you want to make this INSANELY big -- bring the Yankees along. All I know about Cuban baseball fans came from reading the Old Man and the Sea, but between that and basic media tendencies I'd guess that's the team people are still most familiar with, to say nothing of having El Duque and Contreras having gone there. Plan B would be the Dodgers and Puig. Assuming there isn't any danger to him going back there (I read about his kidnapping stuff and still can't tell what happened). Plan C would be the Marlins.
* If the Sox are doing this out of self-interest, then I suppose they should play a Cuban team and do whatever else they can to gain a foothold, knowing full well that everyone else will follow. Surely there's a smidge of value in being first. I'm sure the talent information will rely heavily on local connections, at least in being able to find a guy before the rest of the league does. So connecting with the local baseball scouts and power brokers would be a great idea. Spending some cash on a youth program too, obviously.
* Lastly, as selfish as I am about the Sox scoring talent, I would hope that a lot of the point here is to honor a great baseball nation. The list of countries who place baseball first (above soccer) is short and shrinking. Cuban players should share in the game, but so too should Cuban fans. [Now watch MLB.tv black out Marlins games for all Cuban subscribers.]
