Baseball A NATIONAL OBSESSION Cuba comes close at the World Baseball Classic

In Cuba, baseball is not amatter of life and death, itis much more important

IT takes a lot for the streets of Old Havana to go silent, for the normal hum of activity to diminish to a barely audible whisper. The World Classic Baseball Final played on March 20, 2006 in front of a crowd of 42,696 in San Diego was one such event. It was viewed in virtually every home in Cuba and transfixed the nation. On Obispo (the main thoroughfare of Old Havana) security guards discreetly listened to the match through their ear-pieces as the few people that were still out and about hurried to get somewhere they could see the game.

There was no such restraint in the Hotel Parque Central, where a huge screen had been set up and hundreds of enthusiastic fans celebrated Cuba's agonising recovery from a disastrous first inning against the Japanese.

For a team whose participation in the inaugural tournament had been in doubt right up until the last moment, Cuba's progression to the final was a fantastic achievement. Such is Cuba's international baseball pedigree (World Cup champions 2005, Olympic champions 2004 and Pan American champions 2003) that a silver medal in the 2000 Olympics was treated as a disappointment. This, though, was the first time that the Cuban team had competed against the real deal in a tournament. The other teams were packed with Major League Baseball stars and there were whispers beforehand that the Cuban team would not be able to compete with All Star rostas of teams like the Dominican Republic, whose team included Albert Pujols, Adrián Beltre, Miguel Tejada, Daniel Ortiz and Moisés Alou.

'Baseball is not judged by the price of itsathletes but by the heart of the people'
Cepeda - Cuba's left fielder

Cuba's participation was originally blackballed by the US Treasury Department and it took lobbying from the other competing nations, an intervention from the MLB chairman and an offer from the Cuban authorities to donate all proceeds to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund to persuade the US authorities to back down.

Cuba reached the final via a 3-1 semi-final victory over the much-favoured Dominican Republic team, having previously lost to the same team (7-3) in the group stage and beaten Panama and Venezuela along the way. Given that the Dominicans had averaged six runs per game before the semifinal, the success of the Cuban pitchers in limiting them to only one unearned run was truly impressive.

The final began disastrously for the Cuban team managed by Higinio Vélez, as Japan racked up a commanding lead of four runs, taking advantage of uncharacteristically uncertain action from three separate Cuban pitchers as attempts were made to stem the damage.

As the game progressed, the Cuban team gradually worked itself back into competition with four straight hits at the end of the sixth inning adding to a solitary home run scored by Eduardo Paret at the end of the first inning. It was Frederich Cepeda's two-run home run off Soichi Fujita at the end of the eighth inning which really pulled Cuba back into the challenge as the Japanese lead was cut to 6-5 and the crowds outside began again to believe that Cuba would stage a remarkable comeback.

Sadly, it was not to be, and following further runs from the Japanese team at the start of the ninth inning, when Akinori Otsuka struck out Cuban star Youlieski Gourriel, it was all over and Japan had won the final 10-6.

Despite the loss in the final, the Cuban players had demonstrated that they could compete with the multimillionaires of the MLB, and the following day thousands of Cubans lined the streets to welcome the Cuban team home, roaring cheers and waving flags as the players embarked on a triumphal tour through Havana.