SARASOTA, Fla. – From the moment President Obama announced that the United States was attempting to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba in December, the Orioles began exploring playing an exhibition game on the island as soon as this spring training.
While both Major League Baseball and the players' union see playing in Cuba a more realistic goal for spring training of 2016, the Orioles said they believe they could still play a game there before the regular season begins on April 6 if they were given the blessing of MLB and the players union, according to an industry source.
Even though playing in Cuba this spring still seems unlikely, the Orioles' desire to return there – where they played an exhibition game 16 years ago throughout a much more tumultuous political climate – sooner than later is as strong as ever.
When the Orioles planned the 1999 game, they did so with a goal that bringing a major league team to Cuba would serve as a conduit to political change. And those in the Orioles organization feel that the Obama administration's recent announcement makes returning to Cuba much easier now. Once again, they feel that baseball – a sport that is a popular in both nations -- can help normalize the relationship between the two countries and bring their people closer together, according to the source.
Time is not on their side for this spring, however. There are just 17 days until Opening Day, but since the team already went through the procedures of playing the exhibition game in Cuba in 1999, they have the blueprint for making the game work within a short turn-around time, the source said.
Because of that, the Orioles are still not giving up on the possibility of playing in Cuba this spring. But MLB and the players union are moving more deliberately as both have said in recent weeks that they will wait to see how the situation develops between the two governments before pursuing a game in Cuba.
In reality, the progress of two nations restoring diplomatic ties had been at times stagnant. Representatives from the U.S. and Cuba met as recently as this week in attempt to come to an agreement on a date to reopen embassies, but that third round of talks reportedly stalled.
"Is it possible? Sure it's possible," union president Tony Clark said during his visit to Orioles camp on Thursday. "But the landscape we may be trying to navigate even later this year in preparation for '16 will be different than it is as we sit here right now. But I can tell you everyone is paying attention with a lot of interest."
The Orioles have made their interest known to Major League Baseball, but they are not the only major league team to desire a trip to Cuba. But because the Orioles played there during a more turbulent time and still have relationships with many of the key players who made that trip possible, they believe it would be much easier to plan quickly now. Playing there this spring would be a challenge because of the short amount of time, but the logistics of turning a game around this quickly would be a "non-issue," according to the source.
In landing the 1999 game in Cuba – which was the first of a two-game exhibition series, with the second game being played at Camden Yards that May – Orioles managing partner Peter G. Angelos' first attempt to plan a game in Cuba was squashed in 1996.
Three years later, when President Clinton eased travel restrictions to Cuba in January 1999, Angelos was able to negotiate an agreement that came on March 7. The game was played in Havana just three weeks later.
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