America's favorite pastime crumbles under communist pressure. Yippee!
Remember that putrid fruit Selig playing kissy face with Castro when they had that exhibition fiasco with the Orioles?
Not only have the y kowtowed to Beijing on this, but they went to extraordinary lengths to get the Cubans a permit ot be in the tournament.
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart said his office had identified 22 players who had played in the major leagues in 2005 and 62 minor-leaguers who would have been eligible to play for Cuba under tournament rules. There are a few other such players, such as SS Rey Ordonez, who was in the majors through 2004, as well as defectors who have not yet received a contract. But MLB bent over backwards to get Castro's team into the WBC.
Meanwhile, they would not allow Nationals ace Livan Hernandez, a Cuban defector, to play for Puerto Rico, where he now lives, because he was a Cuban defector who, before his defection, played for Cuba in international competition.
The more tyrannical you are, the more Mud Selig will kiss your posterior.
So this is different from the Administration's China policy exactly... how?
Money talks. Always has. In baseball as well as business.