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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: SEMIS & FINALSMarch 17, 2006Higinio VelezSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to welcome you to our formal interview room session. My name is Kenya Jimerson, and I am joined by our interpreters Dina Kuriansky and we also have Jacki Noh here. Our procedures for the press conference, I ask that you raise your hand if you have a question. I will ask to you come and speak, and we ask that you keep your questions brief so we can answer a fair amount of questions within the time that we have. Also please keep your questions pertaining to baseball and the tournament. Remember to speak slowly, and could you please turn off your cell phones or keep them on vibrate. We appreciate your cooperation, and Dina, can you please interpret for me? We will begin with questions for Cuba manager Higinio Velez and we are uncertain if a player will be joining us. Q. I'd like to ask the manager, are you amused or what your thoughts are on the fact that your team is playing in the United States and the United States team is not? HIGINIO VELEZ: No, I do not find it amusing at all. On the contrary, I do feel regret and I feel sorry that they're not here because it is wonderful baseball, what you see in the U.S. We follow what the Major League Baseball players do in the U.S. and the way they play, and they're the organizers, they put together this whole Classic. We have high esteem for the U.S. players. It is a team that has top quality in baseball and in this tournament, this classic, any one of the teams could have been left out. It could have been the U.S. as it happened, could have been Venezuela or Cuba, and the U.S. in this case is out. I see it as something that really hurts me. It bothers me because we admire the way they play, we admire the quality of their game, and we would have even liked to face the U.S. in this tournament. Q. Can you give us the name of the starting pitcher for the game tomorrow and what the opening lineup will be? HIGINIO VELEZ: The starting pitcher Yadel Marti. I cannot give you the names for the opening lineup because I still don't know what the starting pitcher will be for the other team, if it's a right-hander, if it's a left-hander, I still have to wait to find out and then I can give you the lineup. And in that case, according to the comment that was made by the journalist, the lineup would be the same as we had it in our last game against Puerto Rico. Q. We know that Fidel Castro is a big baseball fan, and I was wondering if he has sent words of encouragement to your team before they play tomorrow. HIGINIO VELEZ: Well, Fidel Castro is one more baseball fan. He is, besides being one more baseball fan in Cuba, he is our main manager, and he likes baseball just like the rest of the people in Cuba do, just like everybody else does. Before we left for the Classic, he got together with us, bid us fare well and did not demand that we win this tournament, he just asked us to play good ball, do our best as a baseball team, and to highly represent the country in this baseball tournament. He sent a message of congratulations to the team. He was happy just like the rest of the people in Cuba. We're happy because of how far Cuba has advanced in this Classic, and now he just is waiting for us to do our best in the field to show the world and show everybody else how good baseball is played in Cuba and to do our best here. Q. My question is do you think that playing so early in the year when the ballplayers are in spring training, they're not trained -- they don't have the rhythm already because it's before the season starts, the Cuban team is in the middle of the season and they're very well prepared. Do you think that playing at some other time, for example, after the World Series, would even the talent or the effectiveness of the teams? Major league players are not in top shape right now, Cubans are, so I don't think it's an even competition; do you feel that way? HIGINIO VELEZ: If you'll allow me, I'd like to say the following. There are two things that I want to say and there are a couple of things that I do want to underscore. First and foremost, and I said this previously at one of the other press conferences but I'd like to repeat it here. This is not a matter of going to the World Tournament or the Intercontinental Tournament which takes place every so often. It seems to me that this classic has been an outstanding proof of what we can do in baseball, and it seems to me that this classic should be organized every two years. The date is to be set and decided when all the players will be at their best, in the best physical condition possible. I've read an article, and I've been following this writer and this journalist from Puerto Rico for many years, and he was writing in this article that he has been watching baseball and he has been writing about baseball for many years, 50 years he was saying, and he has never seen such good baseball as what you've seen during this classic. So it seems to me that here is where we see different baseball players. It is not the same baseball that when you have all the players playing for their clubs or for other associations or groups; this is baseball that is being played by the players for their country. They're not playing because they have a contract with a certain club or because they're being told to do so. They're playing because they're doing that in the name of their country, they're representing their homeland, a place that you grow up, that you're representing the flag of your country, you're representing the banner of your country, you're representing the name of that country. So let me say about Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, we all have wonderful players, and it seems to me that they come here to play in tiptop shape. Maybe what we should do is organize this classic tournament every two years and find a day that can be arranged by everybody where all the players will be at their best, in tiptop physical condition, to do their best. Who ends up winning? Well, the fans end up winning when they have such a tournament like this one every two years and watching such wonderful baseball. We just have to find the best date, and all the athletes can decide on that together with the managers and whoever decides on the best date. It could be done like we do with other sports if you take a look at what they do with fencing or soccer or volleyball, and then we could all come here to watch a wonderful show. Q. I have a three-part question: First, what expectation do you have for the reception you're going to receive from the American fans; second, are you satisfied with the level of security your team has received, particularly here in the States; and third, are you aware of any efforts by agents or outside parties to try to persuade your players to stay? HIGINIO VELEZ: Let me say what we've been through, regarding the questions that were asked divided into different parts. Regarding how we felt and the expectations we had for Puerto Rico and for the U.S., the only thing I can say is that ever since our arrival, ever since we got to Puerto Rico we have felt like at home. We have had no problems, not with the managers, not with the security, not with the fans. In Puerto Rico there were a few fans that had signs up in the stands, but let me tell you what the best part was about this whole thing. It was the Puerto Rican fans who rejected the situation. They themselves stopped the whole thing. They said, we're here to watch baseball, we're here to play baseball, we're here to see these people play baseball, not to have these signs up in the stands. I read an article by a Puerto Rican who rejected this whole situation saying that the Puerto Rican fans rejected fans doing these things in the stands, in the stadium in Puerto Rico, and this was said by the Puerto Rican writer; not by me, not by Mr. Velez. If we do have our differences and people have a different way of looking at life, if you don't agree with our leader or with our system, some of these people that spoke out in Puerto Rico, they could have stayed in Cuba, not leave Cuba and do what they're doing now in Cuba. They could have stayed in Cuba and fight against it in Cuba, not doing it outside. In Puerto Rico what we saw was people who supported us, that backed us, who were happy to watch good baseball being played. The fans enjoyed the show, enjoyed the performance of the different teams, and the rejection was expressed by the fans in Puerto Rico against those who had the political signs up. But it did not affect our players. Our players have felt very well, and they've performed very well. In the U.S. after Puerto Rico, we have also felt like at home. We've felt the kindness, the courtesy, the respect that has been extended to the people of Cuba and the Cuban team. Nobody says that there are people that don't go after our boys and want to bother them. We don't forbid, don't ban our players from giving press conferences. That is something that was being said. We don't hold them back. They can attend any press conference, they can give any press conference. It is not true. We don't stop them. If someone says that we have them under control because they might want to leave, they might want to run away, it is not true. You know very well that if you want to run away, if you want to go to another place, you travel, you go to different places, you know what it's like to go through airports and customs, you can do that whenever you want. You can just leave the stadium, grab a cab, leave the hotel and that's it. You can approach a policeman or security guard and that's it and say I am seeking refuge or asylum or whatever they want to say. They don't want to do that and they're not after our players. They want to play. Don't you think that they want to go back to Cuba and feel the way they are going to feel when they go back after what they've done here, after their performance here and be welcomed the way they will be welcomed when they go back? Whoever wants to leave can do that. What we don't like is the questions that sometimes are being asked of our players. They are not correct. They should approach our players and ask questions that have to do with baseball, that have to do with sports in their interviews; not political questions, not questions that don't have anything to do with this. I only can say that our players, our sluggers, our pitchers, they are calm, cool, happy, collected, ready to play. They're thankful to each and every one of you, in Puerto Rico and in the U.S., and I want to thank you, the media people, and everybody who had something to do for the efforts made so that Cuba would participate in this Classic. Thank you all. Q. Cuba is the only one of the four teams here that does not have any Major League Baseball players on the squad. Are you particularly proud of getting here without any Major League players, and what is the key to your success thus far? HIGINIO VELEZ: I think I answered part of the question just a few minutes ago. I said that what brings us together, what glues together everybody as a team, and the same thing goes for Puerto Rico and Venezuela and Mexico who was able to win over the U.S., first thing is quality. If you do not have quality, you cannot go all the way as we did and the other teams did to this round. Secondly, you have to play as a team, and this is the wonderful situation about this whole thing. I will say something, and I want you to take note of these words: You have a team of men and not of names. If you don't play as a team, you have to defend the flag of your country, you have to defend your homeland, the love for your country. That is what brings together the players in a team. Cuba has quality, but we have the same love that you saw here in this Classic with the other teams. They got together representing their country, and it is the love for that country, what brought them to this very last round. You can see what happened with Japan, with Korea, they got together and played as a team, not as individual stars. The star is the team, and the team is what constitutes a star. Q. Mr. Velez, I want to know what you think about the Asian teams, Japan and Korea, and what have you thought about the possibility of what will happen if you win the game against the Dominican Republic? Will it be more difficult for Cuba to play against one of the Asian teams? Will it be different because the Asian teams are rapid, quick, they're contact teams. They're also right in the middle of their season. Do you think it will take a greater effort by Cuba in order to meet these matches against one of the Asian teams? HIGINIO VELEZ: Well, the Asian teams are nothing different for us. We've played against Asian teams for many years and we know of their quality and what it represents for baseball at a global level. We can say that we know how they play; we've played against Asian teams for many years. We have good relations with the Asian teams, and this has existed between them and Cuba for many years during a lot of tournaments. We've played against their national selection, and we've played many of the final matches in a lot of these cups, the Intercontinental Cup against Korea, the World Cup against Korea and the Netherlands, and many of these cups have been played between Cuba and one of these Asian teams. We know them well. We know that they're quick players. They give their best, they go out into the field and really fight hard in order to play and to show good baseball. They give their best. They have good defense, good pitching staff. We should not underestimate the Dominican Republic. We're just waiting to play against them. We cannot say that Cuba has already won against the Dominican Republic. We have to wait and see what the result of that game will be. It is a good team, it is a wonderful team, so we have just have to wait and see what the result is. The field has the last word. The Asians, we know them very well. Let us wait and see what happens.
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