cuba Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

WBC roundup: Cuba starts strong in defeat of Colombia
Ariel Martinez and Erisbel Arruebarrena each homered as Cuba got off to a hot start and coasted to a 7-4 win over Colombia in Pool A play of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at San Juan, Puerto Rico.,Martinez and Arruebarrena plated four runs on their first-inning home runs, which staked Cuba (2...

Report: 8 members of Cuba’s WBC traveling party denied entry to U.S.
Eight members of Cuba's World Baseball Classic traveling party have been denied entry into the United States, The Athletic reported.,The denied parties do not include any of the players on Team Cuba, which expects to be fully intact at 30-strong for this month's tournament event.,Those affected incl...

Mark Cuban is the hero America needs (on Xwitter)
Sometimes, in life, you don’t get the hero you want, but you get the hero you need. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks — an organization that has been embroiled in ongoing sexual misconduct allegations for the last several years — is best known for either his role on the wildly popular Shark ...

Trump Administration Overturns Deal Making It Easier For Cubans To Play In MLB
For decades, every Cuban-born player in Major League Baseball arrived in the United States only at the end of a long and dangerous extralegal process. That process was, by its nature, run exclusively by and mostly for the benefit of an international collection of creeps, from violent criminal gangs...

MLB And Cuban Baseball Federation Reach Deal To Eliminate Defection And Smuggling Of Cuban Prospects
Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation reached an agreement Wednesday on a deal that would allow Cuban baseball players to play in America without having to defect and be smuggled into the United States. From MLB.com:...

This Cuban Gymnast Might Be The Next Men's World Champion
MONTREAL, Canada—Tonight a new men’s gymnastics world champion will be crowned for the first time since 2009. With six-time defending world champion Kohei Uchimura forced to withdraw from the competition with an ankle injury, the men’s field—like the Simone Biles-less women’s field—is wide open. The...

The Long Slog Of The Cuban Baseball Player Smuggling Trial Is Nearly Over
After six grueling weeks of testimony, both sides delivered their closing arguments today in the criminal trial of two men charged with conspiracy and human smuggling for their part in getting Cuban baseball players into the United States. Federal prosecutors in Miami reiterated today their point th...

MLB Execs Testify They Had No Idea Cuban Players Were Entering Country Illegally
The federal trial of sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Julio Estrada is hitting the home stretch. On Tuesday, their defense attorneys called five witnesses, including two executives from the Texas Rangers and one from the Miami Marlins, hoping their testimony would help punch holes...

MLB Agent Goes On Trial For His Role In Smuggling Cuban Prospects Into America
The federal trial is underway in Miami for agent Bartolo Hernandez and trainer Julio Estrada, who are accused of participating in smuggling operations that brought Cuban baseball players to America. ...

There's Another Cespedes And He's Got A Great Arm, Too
When the world first got a look at Yoenis Cespedes in his insane showcase video in 2011, Kevin Goldstein—then of Baseball Prospectus and now Director of Pro Scouting for the Astros—declared him “arguably the best all-around player to come out of Cuba in a generation.” Now, a second Cespedes will try...

Do Not Watch The Second Half Of This Terrible USMNT-Cuba Game
I know that it’s the very end of the work day at the very end of the work week, and there are only so many options available to distract you during these final interminable minutes before the weekend’s sweet release from responsibility, but I cannot in good faith advise you to spend even a minute of...

How I Accidentally Made The First Official Cuba-To-Florida Kayak Crossing
The shortest distance from Cuba to the United States is about 90 miles across the Florida Strait. By the standards of human-powered sea travel, it’s extremely doable, and it has been done for decades by refugees aboard the most makeshift of watercraft, driven by desperation. In the peak years, tens ...


Cuban Fan Throws Beers Into Tampa Bay Rays Dugout In Protest Of Their Cuba Trip
The Tampa Bay Rays got back from their historic trip to Cuba on Wednesday morning, and after a bit of a travel delay, returned to baseball as usual that evening. Last night, during the seventh inning of their game against the Pirates, an older fan reportedly ran onto the field in Bradenton, cursed a...

Live <em>SportsCenter</em> Hit From Cuba Interrupted By Protester
The 6 p.m. SportsCenter, featuring an extended live hit from Cuba by Bob Ley, was interrupted when a pamphlet-clad protester jumped up onto the set, threw his pamphlets and yelled something. The producer quickly threw to Karl Ravech, Doug Glanville, and Eduardo Perez, who were clearly dumbfounded at...

Soon Cuban Baseball Players Will Be Able To Sign With MLB Teams Directly
The Treasury Department announced new amendments to the sanctions on Cuba Tuesday, opening the door to Major League teams directly signing Cuban baseball players as soon as the regulations go into effect, tomorrow. Among other travel, banking, and commerce amendments, the new regulations allow U.S. ...

Pittsburgh Sports-Themed Cruise Rescues 16 Migrants Near The Gulf Of Mexico
The 2016 “Legends Of Pittsburgh” cruise disembarked from Miami on Thursday, charting a course through the Keys, then eventually to Cozumel, Mexico. The Legends cruise promises, among other things, that guests can, “Hang at the pool, take selfies, and get autographs with your favorite Pittsburgh athl...

MLB Agent Arrested On Human-Trafficking Charges
Yahoo’s Jeff Passan is reporting that MLB agent Bart Hernandez was arrested this morning after a federal grand jury indicted him on human-trafficking charges....

Take That, Cuba!
Clint Dempsey put the U.S. up 1-0 on a defection-ravaged Cuban team in the fourth minute of today’s Gold Cup quarterfinal in Baltimore. ...

The Time I Went To Havana And Hooked Up With Castro's Granddaughter
The following is excerpted from The Domino Diaries: My Decade with Olympic Champions and Chasing Hemingway’s Ghost in the Last Days of Castro’s Cuba, by Brin-Jonathan Butler....