Good Contreras article

[SSH2005]

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...t=.jsp&c_id=cws

Contreras' heart with Cubans at Classic

White Sox righty expects a good showing from his country

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- White Sox starter Jose Contreras resides comfortably in the present as a millionaire, a star, a World Series champion and baseball hero here in this country.

 

He'll also occasionally, sometimes daily, dip into his past in another land. It's a journey to a yesteryear that saw him dominate every hitter and rise to fame on his way to becoming one of Cuba's most popular athletes. The path included poverty, several soul-searching decisions, and the eventual defection to the United States in 2002.

 

Contreras' past and present are coming together again and he knows it. When Cuba takes the field in the first round of the World Baseball Classic next month in Puerto Rico, Contreras' heart will be with them.

 

His body will be a thousand of miles away, still in White Sox camp.

 

"If Cuba wins, it is expected. If they lose, there will be a lot of explaining because baseball is the top sport and if you don't win, it's a problem," Contreras said. "The pressure is going to be double for Cuba. You have the government watching and you are playing against the best players in the world. This will be the best competition Cuba has ever played against."

 

Contreras knows of what he speaks. A seven-year veteran of Cuba's national team, Contreras compiled a 117-50 career record with a 2.82 ERA in Cuban League play. In the 1999 Pan American Games, 2000 Olympics and '01 World Cup, he went 7-0 with a 0.59 ERA and allowed only 36 hits in 66 innings pitched while striking out 66. Fidel Castro nicknamed him "The Titan of Bronze."

 

As a team, Cuba won the gold medal for baseball in the Olympic Games in 1992, 1996 and 2004. In 2000, the team lost in the final to the United States. Contreras said he made about $20 a month as the star of the team.

 

"I want Cuba to win [the World Baseball Classic]," Contreras said. "I know some people associate the worst things in the world with Cuba but I support the baseball team, the players and my friends, not the government. I would love to talk to them, but I am not allowed.

 

"If they see me and talk to me, they will be punished," he continued. "Imagine if I could play with the Cuban team? They don't let me. The government is mad at me and I don't want to be political. I play and they put me together with Fidel as a supporter of the government. I'm Cuban and I love my country and the people, but I can't play with them because of politics."

 

Unlike other Latin American countries, Cuba does not allow its players to leave the country to play professionally in the Major Leagues. For Cuban players, defection is the only way to play in the big leagues since Castro took over power in 1959. Current Cuban players are not allowed to associate with defected players.

 

The selection process for the Cuban national team is an in-depth process, Contreras said.

 

"The invited are young players who are followers of the revolution and have a clean background. If you have relatives who live in other places in the world, it will be really difficult to be taken out of Cuba on that team," Contreras said. "For example, if you have an uncle who lives in Miami, it's going to be real hard for you to leave the country. They worry that you will stay there."

 

Contreras grew up in the rural area of Las Martinas, outside of Havana, and was a believer in Castro's communist government. He admits to not having the best things in life, but he had his family and friends and that was enough. Baseball was not his way out of poverty. It was a way of life.

 

Television and free-speech newspapers were unheard of. The Internet? Nobody has the Internet. Information, all information, was limited -- which at the time was fine for Contreras.

 

"I lived 32 years in Cuba, eight years traveling with the team, and I came to the United States five times and I never stayed," Contreras said. "For me Cuba was the best. All I heard before was about the "Imperialist Yankee" and how bad the government is in this country, and you grow up believing Cuba is the best. Fidel is the best. The U.S. is the worst.

 

"Think of a horse, we in Cuba have blinders on the side of our face and do not see everything on the side. In front of us, we do not see everything because there is another wall in front of us keeping us from seeing it all."

 

The U.S. Government originally refused to give Cuba a license to participate in the World Baseball Classic because of financial concerns, but the issue was eventually resolved. Cuba will play Panama on March 8 in their first game of the World Classic, and Contreras expects a good showing from his country. He also expects opposing players to be surprised by the behavior of the Cuban team.

 

He believes the fear of the unknown off the field will be apparent.

 

"On the team, there are probably 10 players who work like spies. They see you doing something that is suspicious, and they go tell on you," Contreras said. "Players [from other teams] will talk on the field. I know that, but you can't talk anywhere else. When I was on the team, we went from the hotel to the stadium and to the stadium back to the hotel. People see you talking to people, you will be in trouble. I know some players are going to ask the Cubans to go eat or go get a beer. The Cuban players will be scared. They will run away because of the fear. That's how it is in Cuba."

 

On the field could be a different story. Michel Enriquez and Osmani Urrutia are expected to anchor the offense. Outfielder Yoennis Cespedes, along with infielders Joan Pedroso and Leslie Anderson, are also expected to star for the team. Pitchers like 35-year-old left-hander Adiel Palma and 38-year-old Ormari Romero will anchor the staff.

 

Recognize the names? Most don't.

 

"They are a little bit of a mystery because of the uncertainty of who they are going to bring," United States manager Buck Martinez said. "We hear that the roster that they have submitted has an average age of 24. That's a pretty young roster. It's kind of surprising, but everybody expects that they will have a very representative team."

 

"Everybody knows the quality of players from Cuba," Contreras said. "All of the championships we won -- you have to be one of the best in the whole country to be one of the 25 who are coming."

 

How many of the Cuban players will make an attempt at defecting? It's a question not even Contreras knows the answer to. He does not want to guess. His wife and two daughters joined him in 2004 after reaching Florida via speedboat. Contreras' family was denied permission to leave the country by the Cuban government.

 

"I don't criticize the players in Cuba and I don't blame them," Contreras said. "It is such a personal decision that I don't think anybody knows until you do go through it and walk by our sides.

 

"Some say they know Cuba or have been to Havana, stayed in the nicest hotels and walked around. That's not Cuba. Walk in our shoes. Eat what we eat and get on those crowded buses and live in the homes like we do. Try to spend money and have people not accept it because you are Cuban. I have more money than I dreamed of, but my family cannot spend it in Cuba. You come as a tourist, yes, they will take your money and show you a good time. You live there and have money, they shut doors on you.

 

"Don't tell me what it is like to be in Cuba or play for the team if you have not done it because you don't know."

 

The world will get a peek next month.

Jeez, I can see why the Yankees and Red Sox were fighting over him.

[rventura23]

I really like Contreras, he was quite dominant and has had to overcome a lot from Cuba with his family

[Guest JimH]

What is overlooked is he basically admitted he's 36 years of age, not 34.

 

He defected in 2002, 4 years ago.

 

Note he says he lived in Cuba for 32 years.

 

His listed b-day is November 1971, I believe it is fair to say he was really born in November 1969, as has long been suspected.

 

That would have made him 32 when he defected in 2002.

[Heads22]

What is overlooked is he basically admitted he's 36 years of age, not 34.

 

He defected in 2002, 4 years ago.

 

Note he says he lived in Cuba for 32 years.

 

His listed b-day is November 1971, I believe it is fair to say he was really born in November 1969, as has long been suspected.

 

That would have made him 32 when he defected in 2002.

 

 

I noticed that immediately as well. I was looking up his bday as well.

[Dick Allen]

He defected on Oct. 25,2002, which would make him about a month and a half shy of his supposed 31st birthday. If he's telling the truth in the article that makes him 35 right now. I don't know if anybody heard Cooper a month or so ago, but he had people tell him Contreras was older than Duque and was closer to 50 than 40.

[Guest JimH]

Uh oh.

[quickman]

Harder to trade a guy two years older

[Guest JimH]

Harder to trade a guy two years older

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well here is the key, two years older than what. The way it's going Contreras is two years older than dirt. In fact he may even be two years older than you. Which would make him about my age. s*** thats old. Why don't my teeth look like Contreras's, his are so stylin'. What do you think about that.

[AddisonStSox]

Harder to trade a guy two years older

 

Harder to want to lock up a guy at 3X years of age than a 26-year-old as well.

 

Thanks for the rings. Pitch your ass off in 2006. Best of luck in the future.