Madrid Spain.- Former Cuban Major League Baseball player Luis Clemente Tiant Vega, known as “El Tiante,” expressed his support for the Association of Cuban Professional Baseball Players (ACPBP).
“The great Luis Tiant adds his support to our Association, thus uniting three generations of professional Cuban baseball players in this project,” the ACPBP announced in social networks.
He also pointed out: “We hope it will serve to push him to reach the Hall of Fame, where we believe he deserves to be”, recalling that despite having been nominated on several occasions, the former pitcher has not reached Hall of Fame of New York, which has been claimed by many baseball fans.
Although “El Tiante”, one of the most recognized players of the ‘70, since the creation of the ACPBP had expressed his support, this Thursday he made it public through Facebook.
In a publication where he shared images wearing an ACPBP shirt, he stated: “Three generations of Cuban professional baseball players come together to represent Cubans internationally.”
Luis Tiant during his sports career accumulated 229 wins and 172 losses, with an earned run average (ERA) of 3.30 in 19 seasons in the Major Leagues. His 2,416 strikeouts were only surpassed, in Latin America, by Pedro Martínez.
He debuted against the New York Yankees and in the first inning retired them one, two and three. For three seasons he was an All-Star.
The Association of Cuban Professional Players also has the support of renowned sports figures, including former stars such as Edilberto Oropesa, René Arocha and Euclides Rojas; and current players such as Randy Arozarena, Guillermo Heredia, Raisel Iglesias, José Abreu and Aroldis Chapman.
The ACPBP was created at the beginning of last March, with the main objective of representing Cuba in World Classics and other top-level international events.
After its creation, he appointed former MLB pitcher Orlando “El Duque” Hernández as General Manager of the independent team; and as Manager also former Major League player, Brayan Peña.
The Association has pointed out that the Cuban regime has prevented throughout history from participating in the main international competitions, including the World Baseball Classic and the Caribbean Series, “the best baseball players who, as free men, decided to carve out for themselves themselves a future in professional sports.”
The ACPBP intends to give representation, not only to those players who play at the highest level of the Major Leagues in the United States, but to all those who play in other professional circuits, such as Mexico, Japan, Korea or Taiwan, freely and independent of the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB).
At the beginning of June, the Major League Commissioner, Rob Manfred, during a meeting with the organization “understood the great business opportunity presented by the team of Cuban stars that shine independently and freely in MLB” and “committed to explore the different ways to expose Cuban baseball talent on the ground”.
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