Smuggling Cuban Baseball Players Essay - 1336 Words

Major League Baseball (MLB) in America has an influx of players from across the world and many come from Latin American countries. The country of Cuba has numerous players playing in the MLB even though Cuban citizens are not allowed to leave Cuba without a permit that is very difficult to get. Most young Cuban baseball players are forced to flea the country in order to enter the MLB. These young men have to risk jail time and their lives in hopes of getting a payday in America. They are smuggled out of their country by way of boat and often with help of the drug cartels. Hopefully one day Cuban ballplayers will have the same opportunities as those from other Latin American countries and will not be forced to flea their country in†¦show more content†¦would be subject to a special lottery but this only lasted until 1995. After that Joe Cubas, a sports agent, found a loophole in which he had his players establish residency in Dominican Republic for 6 months to establi sh residency. This way his players avoided the draft and were allowed to sign as free agents. Since Fidel Castro has taken over Cuba over 200 Cuban ballplayers have defected. The way Cuban Ballplayers leave Cuba is often a daunting task. Ballplayers who wish to leave want to play with the best competition and want the million dollar contracts but in order to get them they have to risk everything. Juan Miranda tried escaping Cuba 6 times and had to spend seven days in jail before finally escaping the seventh. â€Å"I left Cuba for the Dominican Republic. It’s an experience that I won’t recommend to anybody else,† said Miranda who made it by way of raft with 15 to 20 other people and lasted five days. Cubans spend days under the hot sun and cold nights with little to eat or drink. Miranda was rewarded however with a four year $2.7 million deal with the New York Yankees. Yunel Escobar also escaped on a raft with a group of 24 journeying for 2 days. He however landed in Miami instead of the Dominican Republic making him draft eligible. This made him miss out on free agency and forgo the multi million-dollar bonus he would ha ve been eligible for. Escobar said of his escape â€Å"To be honest, it’s something that IShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesSkinner, â€Å"Mobility Strategies in Late Imperial China: A Regional Systems Analysis,† in Regional Analysis, vol. 1, Economic Systems, ed. Carol A. Smith (New York: Academic Press, 1976), 327–364. 27. Eric Tagliacozzo, Secret Trades, Porous Borders: Smuggling and States along a Southeast Asian Frontier, 1865–1915 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005); Warren, Sulu Zone. 28. Dennis Cordell, Joel Gregory, and Victor Pichà ©, Hoe and Wage: A Social History of a Circular Migration System in West