CMT has a special project to send baseball equipment to Cuba and the Caribbean.

US KIDS TRAVEL TO CUBA TO PLAY BALL              CUBAN KIDS PLAYING WITH A STICK AND A STONE

   My brother in law lives in the mountain town of La Alcarraza, population about 200. As a young ballplayer he organized a team from  this  town to play against other towns down the valley or one mountain over. There was never a problem in getting 18 pretty good ballplayers together- the problem is always the equipment. Typically there might be five or six gloves between the 18 players, so when the fielding team comes to bat, they give their gloves over to the other team- and the best fielders play without gloves. You have to be a really good catcher to play without pads or a mask, but few people have even seen that kind of sophisticated equipment. Even in the Cuban professional league the custom is to pass home run balls and foul balls back to the field, because everyone knows that a baseball is extremely valuable.

   I can’t think of many things that you could do in your life that would be more fun than going to a ball game in Cuba.  Maybe it is the musicians, the conga drums and cowbells, or the rum that people sip, or the pretty girls that are everywhere including at the baseball games, and if you are a pretty girl yourself it might be the athletic baseball players or the other handsome men in the stadium- all in addition to the wonderful baseball! If Havana is ever given a major league franchise (which Cuba deserves a lot more than many other places)  I am very certain that the Cuban fans would teach the entire world how to enjoy a ball game.

   This baseball project started like a lot of other CMT projects- with somebody else’s idea. I heard from the office of Brain Dubie, Lt. Governor of Vermont, that there was a little league coach who needed help in getting his team to Cuba- he had been trying for over two years, only to be denied by OFAC. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the OFAC regulations, and over the years I have learned how OFAC looks at things so with a few artful twists and turns I wrote an application that OFAC would have difficulty denying.

   And then I called my friend John Parke Wright to make all the arrangements on the Cuba end, which is a lot better than trying to get permission in the ordinary way

   Here are a few references to the series of Little League games. Someday I’d love to tell you why I prefer to stay in the background and not be mentioned in any news articles.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2008/05/31/youth_baseball_team_headed_to_cuba

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/NEWS04/805310347/1004/NEWS03

http://cubajournal.blogspot.com/2008/08/peregrines-visit-cuba.html

   We followed up these games with shipping some supplies to kids from the most humble backgrounds, both hand carried gear and loaded onto containers.  A worn out baseball glove would be maintained and treasured in Cuba just like an old car, and fifty years from now some kids will still be using that glove. We ship this equipment under our Commerce license, valid until January of 2010

   And now the project is spreading to the Dominican Republic and I am sure it will spread to other places, because baseball uniforms and bats and all the other equipment is a great gift to kids who love baseball but could never own a glove or a bat without the generosity of others.

      It is common to see kids play baseball in the DR with a stick and a rolled up soda can.

     The really good news is that we are now talking officially with representatives of Major League Baseball, and it would be a wonderful thing if we could put baseball equipment in every container that we send out. The fellow from MLB told me that this kind of donation would be a small thing for them, and a really big thing for us, and he is right about that.  Sending even one baseball glove lying in somebody’s closet is a small thing for the donor, but a treasure for the kid who will get that glove. So please write if you have equipment you want to donate!       
 
PARTNERS
One world Running for shoes with cleats- thank you! www.oneworldrunning.com
Major League Baseball? Let’s hope!