Posted on 09/20/2007 9:27:18 PM PDT by james500
The top slugger of Cuba's last baseball season, Alexei Ramirez, said on Thursday he has defected in the Dominican Republican to fulfill his dream of playing in the U.S. Major Leagues.
The 25-year-old right-handed hitter, who plays outfield and second base and helped Cuba win the gold medal in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro in July, adds to a list of athletes who have defected from Communist-run Cuba in recent years.
"The dream of every baseball player is to get to the Major Leagues, and I want to be part of the world's best league too," Ramirez told Reuters in a hotel room in the capital of the Dominican Republic.
His agent, Puerto Rican lawyer Jaime Torres, said he has already received dozens of calls from American baseball teams interested in Ramirez, including the Texas Rangers, which sent a representative to Santo Domingo to speak to the player.
Sports officials in Havana said Ramirez was due to return to Cuba on Thursday, but failed to take his flight from Santo Domingo, where he had been visiting the family of his Dominican wife Mildred since last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
And there's that whole freedom thing, which is pretty sweet.
A 90 mile home run!
Maybe he didn’t get to watch Michael Moore’s “Sicko”
If he had seen that, he would’ve stayed in Cuba for their vastly superior health care system.
Paging Ken Williams, gm of the White Sox. There is a player you need to sign...
If the Yankees sign him, I’ll puke.
“If he had seen that, he would’ve stayed in Cuba for their vastly superior health care system.”
—
You’re right, of course. We’ve all read about the people making and taking boats to sail from Florida to Cuba, the worker’s paradise. I don’t understand why Michael Moore doesn’t have a permanent address in Havana.
“Cuba has trouble holding onto its star baseball players who are poorly paid and attracted by million-dollar contracts and fame in the United States.”
So do the Toronto Blue Jays.
Of course they beg the question of why Cuba doesn’t have million-dollar contracts for its players.
There are really 3 leagues in MLB. The American League, the National League, and the New York Yankees. On average (roughly) one of them wins the World Series per year. The Yankees are a little behind in this competition but they'll fix it with time. Maybe this hitter can help them push ahead.
I'm sure he's already being fitted with pinstripes.
Has he not talked to michael Moore or the democrats?
Leaving a paradise like Cuba is insane.
I hope he enjoys the DR. He should have to endure a long wait behind all the other legal applicants to enter the USA.
> I don’t understand why Michael Moore doesn’t have a
> permanent address in Havana.
You mean, he doesn’t??
Imagine that!
Does that mean that Blubbermeister Moore is at the mercy of he same evyl capitalistic health care system as the rest of us?
If the Yanks sign him, I'll smoke a Cohiba in celebration.
Nope. It may very well take him a while to get his actual citizenship, but if he can play MLB (which he obviously can) he'll get a green card and will be wearing Yankee pinstripes in no time flat.
That's if he even wants it, of course. He may very well choose to be a citizen of the DR and just work in the U.S. ...during baseball season.
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