A delay of game for Cuba-U.S. baseball

The Miami Herald January 20, 1999 A delay of game for Cuba-U.S. baseball Use of the proceeds from exhibitions is a stumbling block

By TIM JOHNSON
Herald Staff Writer

HAVANA -- For the moment, it's still a balk.

They've agreed on dates, bats and ballparks. And a two-game series between the
Baltimore Orioles and a Cuban all-star team may yet happen.

             But Cuban sports authorities and Major League Baseball apparently couldn't settle
             on a final issue -- proceeds from the series -- before Orioles owner Peter Angelos
             flew home to the United States on Tuesday.

As Angelos watched, Raul Villanueva, deputy director of the Cuban National
Sports Institute, read a statement citing points of agreement in four days of talks.

             ``Progress has been made in a few areas, including dates, places and times for
             possible games [and] playing rules, and equipment that would be used, such as
             wood bats,'' Villanueva said. ``The two sides also dealt with issues related to visas
             and landing rights.''

             If a deal is reached, the first exhibition game would be March 28 at Havana's
             Latinoamericano Stadium between a Cuban national team and the Orioles. The
             two teams would meet again April 3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

The series would mark the first time a major league team has played in Cuba since
the Brooklyn Dodgers held spring training on the island in 1947.

             ``The good thing is that Cuba and the United States are very close,'' Angelos said.
             ``If it is necessary for one of us to come back and meet with Chairman Villanueva,
             we will be here very quickly.''

             The joint statement referred to ``a few important questions'' yet to be resolved --
             an apparent reference to how money from TV rights and ticket sales would be
             spent.

             Havana has demanded that proceeds above players' transportation and lodging
             costs go to victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America. Washington wants the
             money to go to Caritas, a Roman Catholic charity operating in Cuba.

Cuban authorities stood fast to their position.

``Cuba will not back down on this just and noble demand, even if no game is ever
played,'' an anchorman for the Tele-Rebelde evening newscast said.

While politics interfered with the talks, Villanueva said both sides were trying to
stick to baseball.

``The objective we are pursuing is sports, purely sports,'' he said.

Villanueva said other major league teams have sought to play in Cuba but that ``it
has gone the furthest with the Orioles.''

Addressing a Cuban fear that the Orioles might send lesser players, Angelos
promised a ``first-rate'' lineup to challenge the Cuban all-star squad.

``It won't be minor league,'' he said. ``We have respect for the Cuban team, and
we'll have our work cut out for us.''

Besides agreeing to wood bats -- Cuban players normally use aluminum ones --
the two sides settled on the number and nationalities of umpires.

             The 12-person delegation led by Angelos arrived in Havana on Friday. On
             Sunday, they took a break to watch two leading Cuban teams -- Industriales and
             Villa Clara -- play at the 50,000-seat Latinoamericano Stadium.

             Like much in Cuba, the 50-year-old stadium shows signs of deterioration. Some
             lights illuminating the playing field are burned out. Wood slats on many chairs are
             broken.

             On Monday, several members walked the field, checked the outfield walls and
             measured distances. They included left-fielder B.J. Surhoff of the Orioles; Sandy
             Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations for Major League
             Baseball; and Tony Bernazard, special assistant to the executive director of the
             players' union.

``We came away very satisfied with the field and look forward to playing the
Cubans there,'' Angelos said.

``It is a field very capable of hosting a game like this,'' Surhoff added.

             Another possible obstacle: The outfield wall of the Cuban stadium has no padding.
             If the padding cannot be brought in from the United States -- the trade embargo
             prohibits that -- it would have to be imported from Japan at a cost that the
             Associated Press put at $400,000.

This report was supplemented with material from Herald wire services.