So last week I went with a group of American and Canadian \"fanaticos de beisbol\" to Cuba... where we donated humanitarian aid (particularly needed due to the foolish, counterproductive US blockade -- though our trip WAS legally licensed by the Treasury Dept) and saw 5 ballgames at the tail end of the national league's regular season. It was the greatest vacation I've ever had.

The games ranged from tight to a 15-2 blowout (which ended after 7-1/2 innings due to a mercy rule!) ...and there was some surprisingly sloppy defense and lack of hustle (Playing Out the String Blues?) ... for more on the intricacies of Cuban ball (coffee service for the umps in the fifth, no TV timeouts), see this page by previous tour participant Eric Enders.

Accompanying us for many of our events was Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, who played in Cuba in 1947-49 and was making his first return visit. (He later played in the New York Giants outfield with some guy named Mays.) It was great to watch him interact with native fans who remembered him, talk with his 92-year-old former teammate Conrado Marrero, and address 12-years-and-under players at the Sports City complex in Havana (where we donated balls and gloves). At 85, Mr. Irvin is the picture of dignity, strength and patience.

There's tons more I could write thousands of words about (Che's tomb, the Coppelia ice cream palace, the friendly Habana Vieja streetwalkers whose solicitations I politely rejected), but I'll answer any questions if I can.

No one defected, despite an offer of placement in entry-level sugarcane-cutting positions.



American retired baseball player Monte Irvin, right, shakes hands with Cuban boxer Felix Savon during a meeting between American and Cuban baseball lovers on Wednesday March 10, 2004, in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo/Cristobal Herrera)

[ March 17, 2004, 10:05 AM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

Well, how cool is that?!! What a unique experience. I had no idea such a program existed. That cubaballtours.com site has a lot of interesting pictures. Were you allowed to bring home souvenirs?

Licensed travelers (at least of my ilk) are limited to $100 or less in goods. So I brought back a Team Cuba cap, an Industriales (the leading Havana team) jersey, a couple books and a 7-year-old bottle o' rum.

I can see the headline..."Stat Geeks Invade Cuba, Castro Declares War on US" wink

Seriously, sounds like quite a trip. You should write up a full report for Outsports. How were your accomodations?

[ March 17, 2004, 01:13 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

The two places in Havana, particularly the Hotel Florida, were damn near palatial -- rooms with 20-foot ceilings, some antique furniture, marble floors, etc. A little more spartan for the night in Sancti Spiritus, a central province that was our easternmost stop. (And where the home team's mascot was a rooster -- who during one lull, took his head off and tapped home plate with the beak. "The Santeria Chicken.")

The Cuban bureaucracy was, in fact, quite accommodating to us. We were seated right behind home plate most of the time, and in the equivalent of the field-level, behind-the-chickenwire Dodger Stadium seats in Sancti Spiritus...Then a man came through and shook our hands -- the First Party Secretary of the Province! La Revolucion comes through with the comps! (Seats are regularly priced at 5, 10, and 15 cents -- less for those allotted to foreigners. Sounds like a paradise for grouchy old "throwback" fans, huh?)

And you can follow the Cuban playoffs here! (Where's that translation engine...?)

Bill W, what were the other people on the tour group like? Young/old? American/Canadian/other? How many?

What kind of food/drink does one get at the concession stands in a Cuban beisbol stadium?

I think we had 18 participants, plus our "jefe," tour guide, bus driver and MOVPAZ (Cuban Movement for Peace) rep. Ages ranged from early 30s to 70s (85 when Monte Irvin was along) ... three married couples, a couple journalists, no kids. Lots more mojito-and-Bucanero (a good canned beer) drinkers and cigar smokers than at a SABR convention. (I puffed no stogies, but probably sucked in a box's worth secondhand.) So when the bus was full, roughly 5 Canadians, 4 Cubans, rest Americans. Folks from Cincinnati, NYC area, Vancouver, Washington, San Francisco.

Ballpark food: everywhere they sell slim white paper cones full of roasted peanuts, 4 cents each (someone usually bought 2 fistfuls and passed them out). You can buy a shot of cafe cubano for another penny. I had a sizable ham & cheese sandwich for $1 US. Saw a few vendors selling "hot dogs" but I suspect they were Mystery Meat. You can buy a shot of cafe cubano for another penny. There was beer and ice cream being sold too.

(I had my only ice cream -- caramelo -- late Saturday night at the Coppelia kiosk, just outside the famed facility you might've seen in the gay-themed Cuban film Strawberry and Chocolate.)

We sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the middle of the 7th a few times, and were gazed at uncomprehendingly (they don't even have the Stretch, let alone the song).

The SF contingent was shooting a documentary film ... feel free to write 'em a check for post-production!

So, that's where you got off to!

OK, it's cool you get get peanuts for 4 cents, but what would that translate to here when taking in average wages etc.? A buck? $17? A month's wages?

What about the overall quality of play? AA level? AAA?

I like the idea of no TV timeouts. Did the games move along a little quicker than here?

I like this, from the Eric Enders site Bill W. linked to:
That's the way to argue about baseball, to hell with stats!

Joe's right, you should do a full report for Outsports. I'm going to go to Germany in 2006 and follow England around at the World Cup so it was cool to read your report and get a feel for what that might be like.

[ March 18, 2004, 11:26 AM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

I'm flattered by the suggestion, but I wouldn't know how to pare down the week of sensory overload beyond what I'm doing here. I also shot a bunch of film, but it's non-digital, and I don't have a scanner.

My trip also had minimal gay content (yep -- no sexo), though I did linger outside the Yara movie theater Saturday night, a weekend gathering spot for local twinks and third-sexers -- I decided against going to a fiesta from there (a floating gay party with *shudder* house music and the like). Also, there's at least one Cuban catcher I saw who can give Javy Lopez competition in the Thighs and Booty departments.

Level of play, Triple A or "Quadruple A" at its best; there are guys on every roster who could be in MLB. Besides no ad-extended tween-innings breaks, there are no Human Rain Delays a la Mike Hargrove in the batter's box. The two blowouts we saw took awhile, but didn't match the funereal pace of many Yankees-Orioles contests.

I'm inexpert on currency equivalencies there ... except the most humbling part of the trip was that a typical person waiting on you in Havana might make $1 a day in salary and live in a slum. The frequency of panhandling is 10-20 times that in Manhattan, and when you're obviously American Wealth on Legs as I am, you get approached by teens who want your Mets cap or shirt, or men who want to get you a "deal" on cigars.

[ March 18, 2004, 12:17 PM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

I make $144/day at my current job, so that 4 cent bag of peanuts translates to roughly $5.76 for that bag. Yep, MLB prices all right!

Great article on Cuban baseball by Michael (Moneyball) Lewis in the new Vanity Fair ... Among the characters is Kit Krieger, who led the tour I went on in '04.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature..._baseball200807


Also I am REALLY grateful for this thread's existence, as age has robbed me of many of the specifics from my trip of which I wrote above.