The historical antagonism between Cuba and the United States, exceedingly intensified in the political sphere for more than five decades, will cease for several seconds when the once spectacular Cuban short stop Tony González throws the first ball at a Major League baseball game between the Boston Red Socks and the Kansas City Royals.
The time machine will stop at 18:45 next August 25 to privilege the unwonted event, which will take place at Boston’s mythical Fenway Park, in the Massachusetts capital.
Many will ask themselves how the idea came up to call Tony González to the box of the “green monster’s” stadium. The answer is as unimaginable as idyllic: for friendship among peoples.
During the last three years, according to www.boston.com, ten U.S. softball teams visited Havana to participate in championships; however, in more than 50 years no Cuban team received permission from the U.S. government to return the visit until this invitation.
We don’t speak the same language, but we all love baseball and spend many good moments after the games (when we visit Cuba), revealed player Gary Siegel before praising the Cubans’ generosity: “They invited us to have dinner at their homes; they roasted a big hog and did the unimaginable to be good hosts. Now it is our turn to reciprocate that wonderful hospitality.”
This month of August, a Cuban veteran softball team will compete against selections of the EMASS League and the Bay State Association in the Games of Friendship, scheduled August 26-30.
In addition to Tony González, considered one of the best short stops in the history of Cuban baseball, the Caribbean team will be made up, among others, by Carlos Cepero, Cuban coach at the 2nd World Classic; Reinaldo Linares, most valuable player of the 1967 Cuban National Series, and Armando Aguiar, member of the International Softball Hall of Fame.
During the opening ceremony – the day following González’s appointment with history at Fenway Park – a minute of silence will be kept in honor of the legendary Cuban heavyweight boxer Teófilo Stevenson, triple Olympic and world champion, who recently passed away in Cuba at the age of 60.
This gesture of good will is an unquestionable beam in the history of eternal risk endured by Cuba with the United States. Tony González will do his bit on a day when the glory will go fully to these friends who succeeded in making a “two-way Cuban” steal the leading role in the Major Leagues of the best baseball in the world – at least for a couple of minutes.
