Miguel Barnet has expressed, from the wisdom of Don Fernando Ortiz, that Cubanness is the quality of what is Cuban, and that Cubanness is the vocation of being Cuban. So, the ball, cultural patrimony of the nation, seen from the game itself and its knowledge, expresses the two conceptions exposed by the most translated poet and writer in Cuba. It would suffice to accompany that statement with one that Dr. Graziella Pogolotti gave us: “It is, without a doubt, due to its polluting force, the most far-reaching and deeply rooted cultural phenomenon.”
It is in this dimension that we feel baseball, because it expresses the virtue of what is Cuban and gives us that inspiration of wanting to be Cuban. That is why we defend it, and even pamper it, not with a nationalist prism, precisely, because we learned to love it and make it our own, having arrived from the United States when the 19th century had already passed half its century, around the year 1864.
There is nothing Cuban, much less Cuban, which is what nurtures it, in those who today harass and attack the will and the express desire of those who –working in other circuits, including Major League Baseball (MLB)–, want to put on the national team suit to represent their homeland, their flag, in the V World Classic.
Contrast those marked by hate, with the MLB itself, which has had an ethical stance in all the participation of the Antillean squad in these contests. His own commissioner, Rob Manfred, said that the Cuban Federation (FCB) is the one that decides which team is his. Even the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), dependent on the United States Department of the Treasury, after that refusal to allow a cast from the Island to be present at the first edition in 2006, which Cuba finally attended and won. the second place, has not objected to the presence of the selection in the following versions of that World Cup match.
No official source has said how many players of that origin will be on the final roster, but what has been confirmed is that it would be a squad that would combine those players with the best in Cuban tournaments, meaning, right now, the Elite League. That unity melts into the team that represents us, both Cubanness and Cuban identity, and that is already a home run with the bases loaded and the first great victory. Anyone who does not want to see that spirit of communion in defense of the national colors has their ability to love inhibited and the possibility of feeling Cuban is dead.
Cuba has called on its compatriots so that they can represent it, which has been a claim from its people and those players who play in various professional leagues. He does not do it for money or for a champion desire, he will go to compete in a fair fight, with the same modesty as always, with the humility of a small and poor country, but large and rich in dignity. Like any sports organization, the FCB is sovereign in the act of calling, that is, it decides who to call, the same if the player plays in its tournament or in another.
Nor is he a judge to judge, much less condemn, anyone who does not accept the proposal to join the preselection from which the squad would go to the World Classic, next March. Just as the right and willingness to respond to the call must be respected, the same must be done with those who, for whatever reasons, do not do so. It is a maxim of an illustrious American: “Do not allow any human being to bring you so low as to hate him,” said Martin Luther King.
Those who make up the team, those here and those who work there, will have a gigantic challenge, since the level is steep and with many pitfalls. However, trying to climb that mountain will overflow the baseball passion of the Cuban fans, who have always been proud of their players.
