“This memorandum of understanding with the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) involves, among other elements, the support of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) for Cuban baseball players to perform in a legal and orderly manner, in any world league.”
This is what Riccardo Fraccari, president of the WBSC, told Granma at a press conference after signing the document with Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, head of Cuban baseball.
- So the WBSC will mediate for players to access these leagues?
- The novelty is that players can do this with the contracting party, of course, with the help of his Federation, and this is what we will support, he said, adding that this agreement supersedes any agreement with a particular country, even the one Cuba signed with the U.S. major leagues, only to be vetoed by the Trump administration.
In this regard, and the alleged intention of the so-called Association of Professional Cuban Baseball Players to represent Cuba in the next World Classic, he reiterated, "I was clear when this came out, and I reaffirm it: the only institution that can put together a national team to represent its colors and its flag is the WBSC member federation, in this case the FCB.”
He stated, "It is time to recuperate the quality of Cuban baseball, to make it competitive again, to grow economically." To do so, he noted, we are willing and present. “Like any other baseball corporation, it must be governed by the principles of the WBSC, because if the locomotive is running well, all the cars will, too. If the locomotive doesn’t pull, they come to a standstill."
So says a man who led the merger of the formerly separate international federations of softball and baseball, which, since 2014, has advanced the globalization of both disciplines under the umbrella of the WBSC, reaching 208 members, more than those affiliated with the International Olympic Committee itself.
Asked about a possible return to the Summer Games, he replied that this large membership clearly helps, “but we have more work to do, we are a team sport with many athletes. Rugby, to get in, created Rugby 7. We need to figure out how we can reduce the number of players and game times. Today sports events, unlike in the past, are conducted very quickly.”
He referred to possible presence in this context through video games. “Baseball was one of the five sports that tried that experience, and it was the most followed. We are working on it." Additionally, Fraccari addressed the presentation, this year, of the Baseball Champions League in a model version, that will be played in Mexico, with teams from that nation, one from Asia, another from Europe, and a fourth from the American continent. Fraccari raised this idea last year, describing it as a regional contest. For example, the American Champions League, European Champions... In addition, he reiterated the intention of resuming the Intercontinental Cup for nations, with champions from each continent competing.
The memorandum with the FCB, signed in the presence of the president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, Roberto León Richards, also includes the possibility of training coaches, with centers for that purpose in Cuba and also our country’s return to international competition.
Fraccari and Pérez Pardo both said they were very satisfied with what has been achieved, and described the effort and the agreement as tributes to Ernesto Reinoso and Higinio Vélez, who both passed away in 2021 due to COVID-19, two lovers of baseball who as leaders of the National Commission and the Cuban Baseball Federation, respectively, initiated this work with the WBSC.
