I hope the people who made this decision remember Dubya is a big baseball fan.Daily News Wire Services
Cuba won't be allowed to send a team to next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, the U.S. government told event organizers yesterday.
The decision by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control was conveyed to Major League Baseball yesterday, according to Pat Courtney, a spokesman for the commissioner's office. A permit from OFAC is necessary because of U.S. laws governing certain commercial transactions with Fidel Castro's communist island nation.
Paul Archey, the senior vice president of Major League Baseball International, and Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association, issued a joint statement saying the organizers would try to have the decision reversed. The commissioner's office and the union have jointly organized the 16-team tournament, which runs from March 3-20 in the United States, Puerto Rico and Japan.
"We are very disappointed with the government's decision to deny the participation of a team from Cuba in the World Baseball Classic," Archey and Orza said. "We will continue to work within appropriate channels in an attempt to address the government"s concerns and will not announce a replacement unless and until that effort fails."
If only Castro had signed with the Yankees.
Bill, You are missing my point. Forget politics this is baseball. Enough already, this is the world cup of hardball.
ReplyDeleteEh, but politics is life. Nothing in life transpires without some kind of political decision being made.
ReplyDeleteI just hope we don't do the dumb thing and send the KC Royals down there.