The Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) is paying for the balls at more than double what the official balls of the United States Major Leagues cost. The Island paid 12 dollars for each unit of the Italian brand TeamMate in 2020, according to figures from the FCB treasurerLuis Daniel del Risco, while those manufactured by the Rawlings company for the Major Leagues since 1977 cost a little more than five dollars.
As usual in the ruling party, Del Risco blamed the blocking of the extra cost of the ball for which they had to be “bought in China and that with the concept of transportation” they got between 5 and 7 dollars more than their value. “Here we could buy them for that price; however, we have to look for them in places that are far away and their purchase is quite expensive,” he argued.
For the last five years, the island’s sports industry has presented serious difficulties for the production of balls. According to the official, due to the “lack of leather for the ball, the lack of thread and adequate glue,” the delivery of 100,000 balls (70,000 synthetic and 30,000 leather) per year to cover the needs of 16 teams in the Series was not met. National and 8 other categories in 547 sports centers.
Cuba chose TeamMate to try to save the crisis. It is an Italian company based in San Marino and linked to Riccardo Fraccari, president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). This Italian is close to Antonio, son of Fidel Castro, the man who moves the strings of the ball in Cuba.
According to Radio and Television Martí, in 2021 the news website of San Marino libertas.sm revealed that Fraccari and WBSC were being investigated for alleged money laundering. The publication indicated that the Panamanian sports federation complained about the price of the balls provided by the Confederation.
A tax inspection made it clear that “the money paid for the TeamMate brand balls was much higher than the real market value,” the outlet stressed. “Two million euros were seized at the WBSC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland”, although it was later revoked and reduced to the amount of 258,000 euros, which has been upheld to date on the money laundering accusation.
Seeing how a baseball is made is so satisfying ⚾️? pic.twitter.com/F50ThoHHrE
—Baseball (@mlbelites_) October 15, 2022
Haiti, separated from Cuba by the narrow passage of Los Vientos, came to be considered between 1969 and 1990 as the main supplier of baseballs in the world, when in the country there was no identity for this sport. In this Caribbean region, several companies dedicated to manufacturing thousands of balls with cheap labor were established. The McGregor and Rawlings companies were among the beneficiaries of this exploitation model promoted by the Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, he pointed out to The New York TimesJosh DeWind, co-author of Aiding Migration: The Impact of International Development Assistance on Haiti.
Hiding behind the political instability in Haiti, Rawlings closed the plant he had in Port-au-Prince in 1990, where around 1,000 Haitians worked. He moved his production to Turrialba (Costa Rica), where they produce 2.4 million balls a year.
The company pays $1.6 an hour and the workers work shifts of up to 10 hours. There they shape the “cork and rubber centers, the Holstein cowhide from Tennessee and the wool fiber from New Zealand that make up the balls that are sent duty-free to the factory,” public Reuters.
Rawlings also supplies balls to the Mexican Baseball League. In 2020, he agreed to a price of $64.40 for 12 balls. In other words, each piece costs $5.33, less than half of what Cuba paid for each TeamMate ball.
TeamMate’s price also exceeds those of the US brand Franklin Sports, at the same level as the Italian brand, which offers national leagues an average price of 12 balls for $52.
The balls of the Italian brand TeamMate began to circulate on the Island in 2020, they replaced the Japanese Mizuno 200, and these in turn replaced the so-called “bland” Connection, a “nationally produced ball with a rather poor bounce”. , public Cubalite.
In the first 40 games of the 60th season of the National Series, TeamMate’s ball caused controversy because long-running hits were more frequent than usual in Cuba. “Since its establishment, home runs have rained more than normal and many are already beginning to wonder if we are on the way to establishing a new record for home runs or home run frequency,” said the same publication.
The controversy closely follows the Italian company TeamMate. After making a bad impression on the supply of uniforms, which caused the Elite League will be delayed Last October, these days it has been known that he has only delivered half of the balls necessary for the current National Series. Thus, the league had to resort to those of the Batos brand, which “is not made in Cuba, but rather acquired from a supplier abroad who agreed to give it that name.” stressed Cubadebate.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
