The National Baseball Commission (CNB) reported this Thursday that the 62nd edition of National Series It is played with various types of balls because it does not have a sufficient number of those that were designated as official for the tournament.
in a brief release published in the sports portal Hitthe entity explained that prior to the contest a contract was established with the firm Teammate, which would be in charge of supplying all the necessary balls.
They inform about the use of balls #batos in the #62SNB
JIT reproduces the note that arrived at its newsroom… #Baseball #Baseball #Cuba https://t.co/K8QlUUIPun pic.twitter.com/MxwscP8DYw— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) May 18, 2023
Days before, the Facebook profile with the name for the rubberfocused on issues related to baseball on the island, realized that in recent weeks for the games of the current Series balls of different brands and qualities were being used, which would be “disrupting the game dynamics, masking numbers and results ”.
According to this report, up to three types of balls were currently being started in the main baseball championship in Cuba: the official Teammate with a black logo considered to be of good quality, as well as one of the same brand with a blue logo and another from the Batos brand, these last two of medium quality.
In this sense, the CNB explained in its official communication that it had acquired reserve balls “through a supplier abroad under the Batos brand” and that they would be used in the tournament only if necessary, taking into account that those contracted to the Teammate company would arrive in the country in two shipments.
He adds that since the second of those shipments had not arrived in the country, Batos balls are currently being used. The communication does not clarify whether there is a delay with the agreed dates, nor the causes that would have caused an alleged delay.
The CNB argues that so far in the Series there has also been an “overspend of balls per game.”
Without exposing data from previous tournaments, the statement points out that until May 17 there were 4,207 lost balls in the island’s stadiums, which represents an average of between 17 and 20 per challenge.
The CNB adds in its statements that the Batos balls that are currently used in the baseball fair “were destined for the development of our sport at the base, although it continues to be an objective to use them with the highest quality in the national series.”
It also clarifies that this approach “does not exclude our strategic relationships with TeamMate.”
It’s not the first time
The Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) established a relationship with the company some years ago, which recently entered the sports articles and uniforms market, in order to guarantee the supply of these to the main national tournaments and to the different teams of the country.
Since then, the firm has dressed the island’s teams that have participated in different international competitions, including the cast that participated in the V World Baseball Classicand who managed to advance to the semifinals.
However, this relationship has not been without setbacks. One of the most recent forced the postponement of the start of the I Cuban Baseball Elite League (LEBC) due to delays in the arrival of the uniforms of the teams participating in that tournament.
Then the CNB reported that the preparation of these uniforms “was completed abroad, coordinated by the Cuban Baseball Federation with the Teammate brand (…), but causes beyond the control of both parties prevented the deadlines designed for the transfer”.
The start of the Elite Baseball League in Cuba is postponed due to lack of uniforms for the teams
In a statement, the CEO of TeamMate for the Americas, Rafael Llames Cabrera, stated that the company Lantia Marítima SL, in charge of transporting the equipment contracted by the CNB to the Caribbean country by air, could not meet the deadlines “due to the Impacts of Hurricane Ian in the Caribbean and the United States”.
The event generated a media uproar and discomfort among Cuban fans, since a week earlier the national baseball commissioner, Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, had categorically assured on the television program Round table that all the uniforms and equipment necessary to develop the tournament were in the country.
