The story of the Baseball

 

Leagues is a process that takes years of

practice dedication and luck for a

ballplayer from Cuba getting there takes

that journey and then some for decades

Cuban baseball players have had to

resort toa dangerous network of

middlemen smugglers and criminals all

for the chance to realize their

professional potential but today as the

United States and Cuba attempt to

 built on years of mistrust

the fate of some of the best ball

players in the world could light the

path for what happens next

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[Applause]

is fabulous americano watching the nuts

s baseball game I've ever seen between

industry honest and their main rival

Matanzas in the first inning alone we

saw four pitcher changes and next thing

Vou know industrialists scored four runs

and now it's a tie game I've never

really seen anything like this why is it

that that Cuban fans have so much

passion for baseball when one of your

favorite players when they leave how

does that make you feel political change

and a future of uncertainty hover over

the island of Cuba but one thing remains

constant baseball here defines the

national identity and its roots run deep

through this country's history but for

the Cuban baseball player who hopes to

play in the majors the journey to

America is a long one and their path to

immigration is unlike any other citizen

leaving the island

in 2013 yasiel puig caused a sensation

when he defected from Cuba and burst

onto the major league stage signing oneof the highest paid A's ever for a

former Cuban player Major League

Baseball can't do business with any

Cuban ballplayer until they're no longer

Cuban they have to establish residency

in a third country we sat down with

Jesse Katz a writer and journalist who

spent months tracking the Dodger

outfielders journey from immigrant to

all-star | think every Cuban player who

makes the decision to leave the island

is rolling the dice so if you're a

ballplayer of yasiel puig caliber you

just can't afford to take any ride off

the island has to be in the hands of a

black market that can avoid the Coast

Guard and also can make peace with the

drug cartels that dominate that area the

irony and the danger in all of this is

that the smuggler is not going to take

you directly to the United States if

you're a Cuban ballplayer and you make

it to the US you will be treated as an

amateur under baseball rules so it's

imperative for the Cuban ballplayer to

get to a third country for going their

Cuban citizenship the most common

route

for these players is through a

neighboring lsland I'm standing on the

Haiti that is the Misaka River this

route is important because it's one of

the many routes that the players from

Cuba used to get into the Dominican

Republic the players that take this

route must first make it across the sea

and into Haiti then they're faced with atrek over the mountains before they get

to Santo Domingo a city where dozens of

MLB academies sprouted up to scout

new

town

but in December of 2014 a

groundbreaking

announcement put a light at the end of

the tunnel today the United States of

with the people of Cuba we will end an

relations between our twO COuntries but

surprisingly the 2014 announcement has

had the opposite effect for major league

prospects across the island since the

mid 90s the rate of Cuban defections to

America has been a constant in the last

year 

40,000 defections ballplayers are now

part of an unprecedented exodus and

even

while these two countries attempt to

build a bridge to cross the half century

of mistrust that has kept them apartCuban players and Cuban citizens have

decided that the time to leave is now

socialism has a clear influence on the

quality and quantity of top-level

players developed in Cuba but that same

political history has created a culture

of isolation keeping many of this

island's greatest talents from

baseball's biggest stage one of the best

of them is the head of Cuba's greatest

baseball family

with over 2,000 hits a lifetime batting

average of 322 Lotus goody L is a legend

of the Cuban game and his legacy lives

on with his three sons janeski you Leske

and Lotus Junior

what will it mean to you if you do get

to see one or two or three of your sons

get to play in the major league game

you'll be numero uno no one but a real

no policy no grandpa love them

Pocono Moroccan Gran Dolina see my

Veera

bro I'm gonna really see this if we

branded Barcelona's a diva and customi

mega miss you

you see varanelli while they haven't

played in the United States the goryeo

brothers are major-league talent no

question the youngest

23 year old Buddhist j. is one of major

league basebal's most coveted

prospects

while at 31 years old you'll ask agouti

lis still considered the most complete

player in Cuba have either of you ever

been approached by any major league

teams come into prácticamente cocky.