A BEER, PAIR OF SHOES AND SMILE OPEN DOOR IN CUBA

June 1, 2010 – Senior Softball-USA

Editor’s Note: In 1971, the U.S. Table Tennis team went to China for a series of matches that led to the thaw of relations between China and the United States showing how sports can be used to bridge international tensions. In February 2010, two Senior Softball-USA teams played the first Cuban-American Senior Softball Classic in Havana. As a result, the Cuban government has extended an invitation to establish the Classic as a permanent event. But the most amazing diplomacy came with the simple sharing of four beers.

HAVANA, CUBA – The waves of the Caribbean washed ashore over the pitted and decaying concrete pier that lined the shore a few hundred feet from the old softball field on the outskirts of Havana.

You could just see the wave tops before they crashed against the pier and sent up spouts of blue-green spray that fell onto the weedy outcropping of rocks next to a simple small sandy beach where young Cuban boys and girls played volleyball. The net was rotting, but the sport was spirited and punctuated with joyful shouts of competition.

Nearby, on the worn and weedy field, two teams played softball. The American team, all seniors and many weathered with years, used all of the tactics learned on the much greener fields of their youth. The Cubans were markedly younger, some playing with equipment at least as old as the Americans.

One of the Cuban pitchers, Gilberto Izquierdo Alapon, standing more than 6-foot3, played with shoes that were bound with tape to keep them together. Others had old steel spikes and older aluminum bats. They played with the grace of youth; turning double plays like ballet dancers moving fluidly and quickly.

The game was not much of a contest.

Americans, from 56 to 80 years old, used all of their experience to drop in line drives and played their hearts out. But the Cuban combination of youthful athleticism was just too much talent to overcome.

After the game, both teams moved up to an overlooking terrace to watch a second American and Cuban team play out the same scenario.

At first, the language barrier kept the teams in two separate groups on the terrace, eating the sandwiches and talking among themselves as ballplayers have always watched games – commenting on a play, offering unending advice to players on the field, who couldn’t hear a word they were saying.

In the middle of the second game, Alapon walked up to the American players with a white plastic bag and took out a beer, offering it to an American player. The American player hesitated fractionally and accepted the offering. Another American player accepted the second beer and the pitcher and one of his teammates began drinking the other two beers.

As the players began to drink the beers, they summoned our informal translator, Jayme Hennessy, and thanked the pitcher.

He said he and many of his teammates had been given a few hours off of work to play that day. They were hoping the games would last a long time so they would have a shorter workday.

At first, we did not understand the depth of the gesture. The Cubans all earned about $125 a month. The beers cost about a dollar each. This player’s generosity was a major investment in friendship. He never mentioned the price, nor did he ever ask for anything in return.

As the translated conversation went on, a few more players from each team edged up to hear what was being said.

Alapon introduced his son, who tucked his head into his father’s chest as his Dad talked, telling us that his wife and his other son had died. He wrapped his arms around his son and, without saying anything, hugged him closely. The boy looked uncomfortable for an instant, then gave a bashful smile at his father.

There was a little lull in the conversation and then one of the Americans, John Serino from New Mexico, dug into his batbag and pulled out his extra pair of spikes. He approached the pitcher.

“What is your shoe size?”

Alapon heard the translation and looked at the shoes.

“I think those will fit,” he said in Spanish.

He unwrapped the tape holding his shoes together and took them off, handing them to his son. He forced his foot into the shoe, wiggled his feet, and said, “They fit!.”

Gratzek smiled and, as he turned away, Alapon wiped a tear from the side of his eye quickly, before his son could see.

As the game below the terrace went on, the Cuban and American players on the terrace talked and talked, through our interpreter, and laughed and poked fun at each other.

A half-century of propaganda-fed antagonism faded and we were all just ballplayers.

For eight days in February that the two U.S. teams traveled and played in Cuba, they saw a country that seemed, in many ways, frozen in time for 50 years. Buildings and cars from the 1950s were commonplace in Havana, and the natural beauty of the Pinar Del Rio valley was breathtaking.

But the overwhelming feeling of most players on both teams was gratitude for the friendships that developed. Players from the Cuban teams came to the American’s hotel after the games to meet and talk and discover cultures that have been mostly hidden because of political divisions.

On the last day, the Cuban Softball Federation officials, mangers of the four Cuban teams, and many of their players, came to the America hotel for a presentation of dozens of bats, gloves, shoes, bat bags and other gifts to help them develop a senior softball program in Cuba. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent 60 blue Dodger jerseys for the teams and Human Kinetics gave several caps and jerseys. Individual U.S. players brought bats, shoes and other equipment.

But the best gift of the Cuban-American Senior Softball Classic was the first fragile step toward a stronger friendship based on a common love of the sport.

And that gift made the two years of red tape, forms, and arrangements (many through neutral countries) that Susan Ruth, director of International Sports Holidays, pursued to make the Cuban Tour a reality worthwhile.

The contest was lopsided (with the Cubans winning all eight games of the Classic) because the Cubans did not believe that Americans were really bringing senior players. But by the end of the trip, trust was established and the Cuban Softball Federation promised that next time the Cuban players would be 50 or older.

Top performing players on the USA Red and USA White teams were honored at the farewell banquet in Havana. They included Best Offense: Bobby Davis (Red) and Rainer Martens (White), Best Defense: James Walker (Red) and John Fournier (White) and Most Inspirational Player went to 80-year-old Al Murray.

Senior Softball-USA will be going to Cuba for the 2011 Cuban-American Senior Softball Classic in Feb. 15-21, 2011. Please call Susan Ruth at 206-930-7091 for more information or e-mail her at susan@weruth.com.

For a multi-media presentation of the Cuban-American Senior Softball Classic, please go to http://www.martensgallery.net and click on Cuba Softball Part 1 and Part 2. The clips were produced by Rainer and Julie Martens.