A Castro offers hope for a U.S.-Cuba future in baseball – Chicago Tribune

As Tony Castro charismatically worked the crowd like a trained politician, wearing Under Armour sunglasses and a Nike T-shirt, he would have blended in any corporate-fueled baseball stadium in America.

Except this was in Cuba, and some of the hands Castro shook were extended by men who defected from his country in the dead of night on a small boat: Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig. So it was more than a little odd seeing Castro, the most popular here of Fidel Castro’s eight sons, kid Abreu after the White Sox slugger dropped a ball a young boy threw to him during a clinic as part of Major League Baseball‘s goodwill tour. And pose for pictures with Abreu and Dodgers star Puig. And leave the door open for their return.

In a week full of symbolism, Castro connected as the handsome and charming face of Cuban baseball, a lively voice that offered hope that this landmark trip meant more than just a December getaway to a warm climate. Nothing ever is that simple in Cuba, but Castro’s actions and words presaged that one day it will be easier for the country’s best baseball players to make a great living at the highest level in a way that benefits everybody.

Cuba’s President Raul Castro, Fidel’s brother, obviously runs the government but Tony’s role as vice president of the Cuban baseball federation appears to give him sway on the island’s hottest topic this week.

“I don’t think a country’s history should be divided by anyone. … History is just that: It’s history,” Castro told reporters as the three-day visit ended. “Life, and time, is like a spiral. We’re living the history in Cuban baseball right now. We’re experiencing an era with a new relationship with Major League Baseball and the Players Association, one where we want the baseball players to play baseball.

“And where they live in a normal world and they have the same rights. We’re working on a new relationship, one based on respect, where baseball is the language spoken.”

The bold change Castro implied was coming brought to mind Rocky Wirtz, whose radical moves shortly after the death of his father, Bill, altered the course of the Blackhawks. You wonder how much the business of baseball in Cuba might change once Fidel Castro, said to be frail, dies — if at all. Tony Castro made a convincing case during a monumental week that the status quo was changing. One year after President Barack Obama announced U.S. and Cuba would normalize relations, optimism fills the humid Caribbean air.

“Let’s see what happens in the future,” Castro said. “We’re not Nostradamus.”

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Most reserved player on the visit: Abreu. Most outgoing: Brayan Pena. Most accessible: Miguel Cabrera. Most polite: Nelson Cruz, whose son accompanied him everywhere. Most outrageous: Puig.

Most anonymous?

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was the invisible man among the eight major-leaguers who served as ambassadors.

So much focus surrounded the four Cuban-born players returning home that, at times, Kershaw was ignored. At one function inside a baseball stadium, at least 100 fans stood with their backs to Kershaw, who sat alone in the second row. When he was approached, Kershaw displayed humility and a curiosity about the Cuban culture.

He also unintentionally offered a funny reaction to Wednesday’s White Sox trade for Todd Frazier, in which the Dodgers received Sox prospects Trayce Thompson, Frankie Montas and Micah Johnson. In a media work area, Kershaw shared the news with a Los Angeles reporter he knew.

“We got Frankie Montas, Micah Johnson and the Thompson brother,” Kershaw said, referring to Trayce’s more famous brother Klay, a Warriors guard.

As well as Trayce Thompson played late last season, chances are Kershaw soon will come to know and appreciate his new teammate.

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Alexei Ramirez declined several requests to conduct interviews in English despite spending the last eight years on the South Side. Has Chicago ever known less about an athlete who been in the city so long? Ramirez left Cuba in 2007 to establish residency in the Dominican Republic, the country of his wife. The scene of Ramirez hugging a family member as they shared a cigar on a balcony at the Hotel Nacional was memorable.

“A great week,” Ramirez said Thursday in the hotel lobby.

He remains a free agent but those who spoke to the shortstop say he expressed confidence about receiving a multi-year contract offer from at least one team. The Sox, who rejected the rebuilding idea by trading three prospects, could do worse than making another run at the veteran to hold down the job until Tim Anderson is ready.

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Officials implied it was a matter of when, not if, MLB announces that the Rays will play an exhibition game in March in Havana. Sounds like progress. That will reignite talk about a second team playing in the country and speculation already exists over the possibility of a minor-league team relocating. Did somebody float the idea of a Sox-Dodgers charter trip from Glendale, Ariz.-to-Havana so former Cuban teammates Puig and Abreu can play against each other in an exhibition?

Slow down. Without consulting a groundskeeper or engineer, much work remains before anybody starts wondering about a regular MLB spring-training shuttle to Cuba or — as one emailer suggested — an MLB team franchise here.

The infield and outfield grass at El Estadio Latinoamericano resembled so many neglected suburban lawns. Enough ruts existed in the dirt to worry about bad hops or sprained ankles. The stadium infrastructure itself needed updating. From a technology standpoint, the lack of cell-phone service and the reality of buying Internet access by the hour creates inherent challenges that don’t exist in the worst American sports venues. Cuba is the land Wi-Fi forgot.