You find Entronque de Herradura on a map and even today it looks as if this is the middle of nowhere. The village is located in Pinar del Rio, the westernmost province of Cuba, an area of mountains and lush valleys.Pedro and Anita Oliva had a farm of 150 acres, where they raised chickens and cows for food, and grew tobacco and other crops. Pedro earned a reputation in the area for having the finest touch for rolling cigars.There were 10 children, six boys and four girls. There was much work on the farm, but on Sundays, there was baseball.
''We would play three games ... play all day," Tony Oliva said. "After a while, I could hear the older men who were watching, talking in low voices to each other, saying, 'If that boy gets to Havana, he won't be back.' ''They were talking about me." Havana was the home to the four teams of the Cuban League. This was the best of baseball's winter leagues, with major leaguers such as Camilo Pascual pitching 300 innings for the Washington Senators and then coming home to pitch more than 100 in the offseason.
Roberto Fernandez Tapanes was an outfielder who played for the Havana Cubans in the Florida International League in the early 1950s. The founder of that team was Joe Cambria, who would become known as "Papa Joe" to the many Cuban players that he signed for the Washington Senators' organization. ''Fernandez Tapanes discovered me," Oliva said. "He would bring teams to play in our area on Sundays, and he saw me play in Palacios. I was hitting third for our team ... hitting good. He said to me, 'Would you want to play professional?' 'I thought he was talking about playing in Havana, in the Cuban League. I had listened to those games at night, on our scratchy radio, and had dreamed of being able to play there."
The conversation was taking place soon after Fidel Castro, the leader of the Cuban Revolution, took power on Jan. 1, 1959. Fernandez Tapanes, along with Tony Oliva, and his parents, had no idea to the full extent of changes this would bring. Private land was seized and Pedro and Anita's farm went from 150 acres to a tiny plot, a couple of acres. In 1961, Castro outlawed professional sports, officially putting the end to a Cuban League filled with major leaguers.
Fernandez Tapanes introduced Oliva to Cambria, and Tony was in a last-ever group of Cubans (22 at the start) that Papa Joe would send to the Griffith organization -- freshly relocated to Minnesota. ''We left on April 9, 1961, and had to enter the U.S. through Mexico," Oliva said. "We were there for 10 days, before leaving for Florida on April 19." There was a considerable brouhaha in Cuba-U.S. relations during that period. The CIA-inspired and ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion had occurred on April 17. ''The Bay of Pigs was terrible for many people, but it's probably the reason I was able to play baseball in the United States," Tony said. Four of the Twins' six full-season minor league teams already had departed Fernandina Beach, Fla., when Papa Joe's final shipment of Cuban talent arrived.
''We worked out for five days and they told 10 of us to go home," Oliva said. "But we couldn't go home, because travel was shut down after the Bay of Pigs. I think Joe Cambria made a call for me."
The call was to Phil Howser, running the Class A Charlotte Hornets for the Griffiths. Oliva and two other Cubans were told to go to Charlotte and wait for further instructions.
''Minnie Mendoza was playing second base for Charlotte," Oliva said. "I owe a lot to him. He kept telling Phil Howser, 'Don't send Tony back. He's a great hitter.'?" Eventually, Howser placed Oliva with the short-season team in Wytheville, Va. Tony hit .410. He had a handful of September at-bats for the Twins in 1962 and 1963, and came to stay as the American League's Rookie of the Year and batting champion in 1964. Truly came to stay. He and his wife Gordette raised their family in Bloomington, and now that home is a gathering place for four children, and five grandchildren, and right now, siblings visiting Tony from Cuba. Tony and Gordette also visit his family most winters in Pinar del Rio. Tony turned 75 July 20, with a small birthday celebration on a deck at Target Field.
''We had a place in Miami for a few winters, but after two or three weeks, we would say, 'Let's go home,'" Tony said. "Minnesota, and also Cuba ... those are the only places where I feel like I'm home."
(Contact Patrick Reusse at preusse@startribune.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
Showing posts with label Baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baseball. Show all posts
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Aroldis Chapman's path back to the Big Leagues
May, 29, 2011May 2911:16AM ETEmailComments1
The most pivotal moment for Aroldis Chapman, in the end, might not have happened on a mound, or in a bullpen session. It might've occurred in a conversation that he had with Reds pitching coach Bryan Price.
The Cincinnati left-hander is currently in the minor leagues, working his way back to the majors, after a spectacular start to his season, and an equally spectacular crash. Chapman didn't allow a run in his first 12 appearances of the season.
But in his 13th appearance, Chapman lost the strike zone, walking three batters in an inning. It was the first in a string of four outings in which Chapman walked 12 batters in 1.1 innings. The worst of it may have happened in Houston on May 10, when Chapman walked all three batters he faced.
It was apparent to the Reds' staff that Chapman, a defector from Cuba, was greatly embarrassed by his outing, and greatly frustrated. There were times when he was in the minors in 2010 in which he had seemed isolated, and appeared to struggle to assimilate with teammates. After the three-walk outing in Houston, he disappeared from the main room of the clubhouse.
Chapman and Price met that day to talk about what had happened and to discuss adjustments, not an easy conversation -- which is probably expected for players of Chapman's background, at this point. Many major League evaluators believe that the players who have the greatest cultural adjustments to playing Major League Baseball are not players from Japan, like Daisuke Matsuzaka, or from Korea, like Shin-Soo Choo. Rather, through the years, they have noticed that players who defect from Cuba tend to struggle within clubhouses, largely because they don't exhibit trust -- they fear an ulterior motive for routine decisions or interactions.
The most pivotal moment for Aroldis Chapman, in the end, might not have happened on a mound, or in a bullpen session. It might've occurred in a conversation that he had with Reds pitching coach Bryan Price.
The Cincinnati left-hander is currently in the minor leagues, working his way back to the majors, after a spectacular start to his season, and an equally spectacular crash. Chapman didn't allow a run in his first 12 appearances of the season.
But in his 13th appearance, Chapman lost the strike zone, walking three batters in an inning. It was the first in a string of four outings in which Chapman walked 12 batters in 1.1 innings. The worst of it may have happened in Houston on May 10, when Chapman walked all three batters he faced.
It was apparent to the Reds' staff that Chapman, a defector from Cuba, was greatly embarrassed by his outing, and greatly frustrated. There were times when he was in the minors in 2010 in which he had seemed isolated, and appeared to struggle to assimilate with teammates. After the three-walk outing in Houston, he disappeared from the main room of the clubhouse.
Chapman and Price met that day to talk about what had happened and to discuss adjustments, not an easy conversation -- which is probably expected for players of Chapman's background, at this point. Many major League evaluators believe that the players who have the greatest cultural adjustments to playing Major League Baseball are not players from Japan, like Daisuke Matsuzaka, or from Korea, like Shin-Soo Choo. Rather, through the years, they have noticed that players who defect from Cuba tend to struggle within clubhouses, largely because they don't exhibit trust -- they fear an ulterior motive for routine decisions or interactions.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Cuba’s plan to shop talent may not help MLB
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
Dec 27, 4:36 pm EST
Pedro Luis Lazo retired from baseball the day after Christmas. A horse-drawn carriage took him into the stadium in Pinar Del Rio where he and Jose Contreras(notes) once formed the most fearsome pitching duo in the history of the Cuban league, Serie Nacional. Nearly a decade ago, Contreras fled Cuba for the riches of Major League Baseball. Lazo stayed.
For the last 21 years, Lazo pitched for a pittance. Outside of the tiny island shut off from the United States, he is barely known. Whatever Lazo could’ve been in MLB – monster closer or inning-gobbling starter in all likelihood, and outsized, magnanimous personality for certain – his nationalist and loyalist sensibilities handcuffed him to Cuba.
He is a dying breed. Over the last two years, major league teams have spent more than $75 million on Cuban defectors for whom a life with new cars and sparkling jewelry and freedom was too much to ignore. Nearly half the sum went to Aroldis Chapman(notes), who in his first season with the Cincinnati Reds threw the fastest recorded pitch in history and showcased the highest-end talent available in Cuba.
Chapman’s defection, along with that of shortstops Jose Iglesias (Boston signed him for $8.2 million) and Adeiny Hechavarria (Toronto signed him for $10 million), has compelled Cuba to reconsider its policy on restricting players from plying their trade professionally elsewhere. The Baseball Federation of Cuba, headed by Fidel Castro’s son Tony, is discussing a plan that would allow baseball players to leave the country in exchange for a proportion of their salary going to Cuba, according to two sources familiar with the proposal.
Ideally, one source said, Cuba would send players to the major leagues and circumvent the spate of defections that have embarrassed the country. Such a plan, the source said, is currently a non-starter. Though MLB would welcome Cuban players, the arrangement would in effect pay the Cuban government for players, a violation of the United States’ 50-year-long embargo on Cuba. That is unlikely to thaw for baseball. While the U.S. government has allowed Cuba to play in both World Baseball Classics, Cuban players were the only ones not given the prize money handed out by the International Baseball Federation.
For now, the idea is for Cubans to go to Japan, South Korea, Mexico or Europe, like doctors and entertainers who make money elsewhere, then return home eventually. Because of working agreements with the first three countries, MLB would not take defectors from them. And baseball in Europe is played at a significantly lower quality and salary, likely keeping the top-end Cuban talent from playing in the Netherlands or Italy.
Accordingly, the defections probably will continue unabated. In November, Yasiel Balaguer, a 17-year-old on the Cuban Junior National team, defected to Nicaragua. Whether Balaguer is anything more than a marginal talent seems not to matter, as MLB teams’ intrigue with Cuban players continues despite the deep risk involved with their signings. Eleven Cuban players made major league debuts in the last three seasons and 35 have done so since 1995.
For every Chapman and Iglesias – he is expected to take over as the Red Sox’s full-time shortstop by 2012 – there are Noel Arguelles(notes) and Dayan Viciedo(notes). Kansas City paid $6.9 million for Arguelles last December, and he’s looking like Kei Igawa(notes) to Chapman’s Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes). Arguelles still hasn’t thrown a professional pitch and underwent shoulder surgery in August. Viciedo’s two main problems – plate discipline and weight – haven’t resolved themselves, and the White Sox only hope their $10 million investment in the third baseman isn’t a complete wash.
Even if they’re busts, there have been enough Cuban successes in the major leagues to feed the defecting marketplace. The Angels’ Kendry Morales(notes) is among the best hitters and the White Sox’s Alexei Ramirez(notes) is among the best-fielding shortstops in the American League. Shortstop Yunel Escobar(notes) is poised for a breakout season with Toronto, and pitcher Yunesky Maya(notes) joins Washington’s rotation this season, and outfielder/first baseman Leslie Anderson could crack Tampa Bay’s opening day roster.
Despite the dozens of players who have left over the past two years, Cuba remains No. 1 in IBAF rankings. Major league teams still covet Frederich Cepeda and Yulieski Gourriel and Alfredo Despaigne and even Lazo, who, at 37 and sporting a paunch, can fire fastballs and forkballs like his old teammate in Pinar Del Rio.
Contreras signed a two-year, $5.5 million deal to remain with Philadelphia this offseason. Already he has made $62.5 million in his eight major league seasons. Depending on the report, players in Cuba are paid anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to $2,000 or $3,000 per season. Over his career, Contreras has made $3,396.55 per pitch.
Lazo could’ve had that. He could’ve been like so many Cubans who leave behind their families to be rich and famous and free. There is something tragic about Pedro Luis Lazo, just as there is about Cuba. And yet as Lazo rode off into the sunset on a horse, having pitched for 21 seasons in the place he loves most, there was something beautiful about it, too, about the dying breed going out exactly like he wanted.
Dec 27, 4:36 pm EST
Pedro Luis Lazo retired from baseball the day after Christmas. A horse-drawn carriage took him into the stadium in Pinar Del Rio where he and Jose Contreras(notes) once formed the most fearsome pitching duo in the history of the Cuban league, Serie Nacional. Nearly a decade ago, Contreras fled Cuba for the riches of Major League Baseball. Lazo stayed.
For the last 21 years, Lazo pitched for a pittance. Outside of the tiny island shut off from the United States, he is barely known. Whatever Lazo could’ve been in MLB – monster closer or inning-gobbling starter in all likelihood, and outsized, magnanimous personality for certain – his nationalist and loyalist sensibilities handcuffed him to Cuba.
He is a dying breed. Over the last two years, major league teams have spent more than $75 million on Cuban defectors for whom a life with new cars and sparkling jewelry and freedom was too much to ignore. Nearly half the sum went to Aroldis Chapman(notes), who in his first season with the Cincinnati Reds threw the fastest recorded pitch in history and showcased the highest-end talent available in Cuba.
Chapman’s defection, along with that of shortstops Jose Iglesias (Boston signed him for $8.2 million) and Adeiny Hechavarria (Toronto signed him for $10 million), has compelled Cuba to reconsider its policy on restricting players from plying their trade professionally elsewhere. The Baseball Federation of Cuba, headed by Fidel Castro’s son Tony, is discussing a plan that would allow baseball players to leave the country in exchange for a proportion of their salary going to Cuba, according to two sources familiar with the proposal.
Ideally, one source said, Cuba would send players to the major leagues and circumvent the spate of defections that have embarrassed the country. Such a plan, the source said, is currently a non-starter. Though MLB would welcome Cuban players, the arrangement would in effect pay the Cuban government for players, a violation of the United States’ 50-year-long embargo on Cuba. That is unlikely to thaw for baseball. While the U.S. government has allowed Cuba to play in both World Baseball Classics, Cuban players were the only ones not given the prize money handed out by the International Baseball Federation.
For now, the idea is for Cubans to go to Japan, South Korea, Mexico or Europe, like doctors and entertainers who make money elsewhere, then return home eventually. Because of working agreements with the first three countries, MLB would not take defectors from them. And baseball in Europe is played at a significantly lower quality and salary, likely keeping the top-end Cuban talent from playing in the Netherlands or Italy.
Accordingly, the defections probably will continue unabated. In November, Yasiel Balaguer, a 17-year-old on the Cuban Junior National team, defected to Nicaragua. Whether Balaguer is anything more than a marginal talent seems not to matter, as MLB teams’ intrigue with Cuban players continues despite the deep risk involved with their signings. Eleven Cuban players made major league debuts in the last three seasons and 35 have done so since 1995.
For every Chapman and Iglesias – he is expected to take over as the Red Sox’s full-time shortstop by 2012 – there are Noel Arguelles(notes) and Dayan Viciedo(notes). Kansas City paid $6.9 million for Arguelles last December, and he’s looking like Kei Igawa(notes) to Chapman’s Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes). Arguelles still hasn’t thrown a professional pitch and underwent shoulder surgery in August. Viciedo’s two main problems – plate discipline and weight – haven’t resolved themselves, and the White Sox only hope their $10 million investment in the third baseman isn’t a complete wash.
Even if they’re busts, there have been enough Cuban successes in the major leagues to feed the defecting marketplace. The Angels’ Kendry Morales(notes) is among the best hitters and the White Sox’s Alexei Ramirez(notes) is among the best-fielding shortstops in the American League. Shortstop Yunel Escobar(notes) is poised for a breakout season with Toronto, and pitcher Yunesky Maya(notes) joins Washington’s rotation this season, and outfielder/first baseman Leslie Anderson could crack Tampa Bay’s opening day roster.
Despite the dozens of players who have left over the past two years, Cuba remains No. 1 in IBAF rankings. Major league teams still covet Frederich Cepeda and Yulieski Gourriel and Alfredo Despaigne and even Lazo, who, at 37 and sporting a paunch, can fire fastballs and forkballs like his old teammate in Pinar Del Rio.
Contreras signed a two-year, $5.5 million deal to remain with Philadelphia this offseason. Already he has made $62.5 million in his eight major league seasons. Depending on the report, players in Cuba are paid anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to $2,000 or $3,000 per season. Over his career, Contreras has made $3,396.55 per pitch.
Lazo could’ve had that. He could’ve been like so many Cubans who leave behind their families to be rich and famous and free. There is something tragic about Pedro Luis Lazo, just as there is about Cuba. And yet as Lazo rode off into the sunset on a horse, having pitched for 21 seasons in the place he loves most, there was something beautiful about it, too, about the dying breed going out exactly like he wanted.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sunday, December 14, 2008
White Sox sign Cuban teen Dayan Viciedo
Sox's Viciedo plans to drop weight, then compete at 3rd base
By Mark Gonzales
December 12, 2008
During his two-day tryout last month in the Dominican Republic, Dayan Viciedo's weight was a bigger concern to several major-league scouts than his ability to hit a breaking pitch. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen shared those concerns after he saw the 19-year-old Cuban third baseman on television. To quell those worries, Viciedo plans to start a workout program next week in Florida with countryman and Sox infielder Alexei Ramirez in an effort to make a strong impression in spring training.
"I did hear Ozzie's commentary," Viciedo said Friday in a conference call shortly after the Sox announced his signing of a four-year, $10 million contract. "I have some work to do before I get to spring training." The 6-foot-1-inch Viciedo said he weighs 246 pounds but wants to get down to 230 before reporting to camp in late February. A National League scouting director who raved about the youngster's hitting ability said Viciedo had lost 14 pounds before working out in front of about 100 major league scouts at the Sox's and Yankees' Dominican academies. The scout projected him as a first-round draft pick.
"We wanted him pretty badly," the scout said. "I was impressed by the way he ripped breaking pitches." A scouting director for an American League team said Viciedo's hitting ability would make him a "top-three pick" if he were in the amateur draft. But for Viciedo to have a reasonable shot to compete at third base against leading candidate Josh Fields, he'll have to report in shape, as Guillen pointed out last week.
Viciedo likely will start the season in the minors but said he would play anywhere he is asked to in an effort to help the Sox and advance his chances. He cited the success and comfort level of fellow Cubans Ramirez and Jose Contreras, along with a contract that includes a $4 million bonus, as reasons for signing with the Sox. "[Ramirez's] success made me extremely happy," Viciedo said. "Cuban baseball, I feel, is good baseball. We have good players in Cuba. His success has motivated me to work a little harder, and I feel with him and his motivation and what he did last year, I can also be successful."
An NL scouting director who watched Viciedo's workouts believed he would start at Double A but could advance quickly if he continued to hit for power and polish his fielding. Viciedo will receive contracts worth $1 million in 2009, $1.25 million in 2010-11 and $2.5 million in 2012.
Viciedo gained notice internationally at 15 when he was named the most valuable player of the world junior championships in Mexico. He batted .296 with 32 home runs and 123 RBIs in 233 games over the last three seasons with Villa Clara of the Cuban League and posted a slugging percentage of better than .500 in two of his three seasons in Serie Nacional, Cuba's top-level league. The Sox also signed outfielder Dewayne Wise to a $550,000 contract, leaving closer Bobby Jenks as their only unsigned arbitration-eligible player.
mgonzales@tribune.com
By Mark Gonzales
December 12, 2008
During his two-day tryout last month in the Dominican Republic, Dayan Viciedo's weight was a bigger concern to several major-league scouts than his ability to hit a breaking pitch. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen shared those concerns after he saw the 19-year-old Cuban third baseman on television. To quell those worries, Viciedo plans to start a workout program next week in Florida with countryman and Sox infielder Alexei Ramirez in an effort to make a strong impression in spring training.
"I did hear Ozzie's commentary," Viciedo said Friday in a conference call shortly after the Sox announced his signing of a four-year, $10 million contract. "I have some work to do before I get to spring training." The 6-foot-1-inch Viciedo said he weighs 246 pounds but wants to get down to 230 before reporting to camp in late February. A National League scouting director who raved about the youngster's hitting ability said Viciedo had lost 14 pounds before working out in front of about 100 major league scouts at the Sox's and Yankees' Dominican academies. The scout projected him as a first-round draft pick.
"We wanted him pretty badly," the scout said. "I was impressed by the way he ripped breaking pitches." A scouting director for an American League team said Viciedo's hitting ability would make him a "top-three pick" if he were in the amateur draft. But for Viciedo to have a reasonable shot to compete at third base against leading candidate Josh Fields, he'll have to report in shape, as Guillen pointed out last week.
Viciedo likely will start the season in the minors but said he would play anywhere he is asked to in an effort to help the Sox and advance his chances. He cited the success and comfort level of fellow Cubans Ramirez and Jose Contreras, along with a contract that includes a $4 million bonus, as reasons for signing with the Sox. "[Ramirez's] success made me extremely happy," Viciedo said. "Cuban baseball, I feel, is good baseball. We have good players in Cuba. His success has motivated me to work a little harder, and I feel with him and his motivation and what he did last year, I can also be successful."
An NL scouting director who watched Viciedo's workouts believed he would start at Double A but could advance quickly if he continued to hit for power and polish his fielding. Viciedo will receive contracts worth $1 million in 2009, $1.25 million in 2010-11 and $2.5 million in 2012.
Viciedo gained notice internationally at 15 when he was named the most valuable player of the world junior championships in Mexico. He batted .296 with 32 home runs and 123 RBIs in 233 games over the last three seasons with Villa Clara of the Cuban League and posted a slugging percentage of better than .500 in two of his three seasons in Serie Nacional, Cuba's top-level league. The Sox also signed outfielder Dewayne Wise to a $550,000 contract, leaving closer Bobby Jenks as their only unsigned arbitration-eligible player.
mgonzales@tribune.com
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