Solid contact

N.E. Little Leaguers strike a blow for diplomacy in Cuba

PENALVER, Cuba - A Cold War ended on a hot day here.

Cuban kids, armed with machetes, toiled long and hard under the scorching Caribbean sun carving out a baseball field for a series of games against the North Americans. They spared three mango trees in left field - a nice touch - creating sort of a Caribbean Green Monster.

The Little Leaguers from eastern Vermont and western New Hampshire traveled to Cuba Aug. 9 to help start two new baseball teams - the Mangos and the Santos (Saints) - at a Salesian convent 20 minutes east of Havana.

A Field of Dreams in a country the US Government calls enemy territory.

"I had blisters all over my hands until right now, but it's worth it, I will have some new friends," said Yeilan Socorro, 12, waiting for the American kids to arrive.

It wasn't easy. For a series billed as "friendship games" between two baseball-loving countries, it took coach Ted Levin two years and four tries before the Twin State Peregrines finally received permission from the US Treasury Department to visit Cuba. The island nation has been under US embargo since 1962. Visiting Cuba is not illegal, but spending money there is without a special permit.

The baseball initiative sparked a political controversy when Florida Republican Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart tried to stop the trip and Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy quickly brushed him back, telling him to "pick on somebody his own size."

Little League Baseball also refused to sanction the trip, and some parents were hesitant about having their kids visit a communist country.

"It's a political belief, it doesn't mean everyone has horns on their head," said Levin, a nature writer who visited Cuba in 1993. "They're just human beings who happen to love the same game we love."

The journey from Vermont took 24 hours because of a flight cancellation at Logan Airport. But the air time from Miami to Havana was a mere 27 minutes.

"A dream has come true," said John Parke Wright IV, a Florida businessman who is fervently against the embargo and helped sponsor the trip. "Not even a US Congressman can stop us and these kids."

They were met by a Castro at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana - Fidel's nephew Angel, who works in the Ministry of Agriculture and is a big baseball fan. The team was ushered into the VIP area used by Fidel, an air-conditioned room filled with a dozen magenta easy chairs and couches, and given mango juice while they were cleared through customs.

"Man, I'm just staying out of politics," said Jesse Cutting, 12, of Lyme, N.H. "I'm just going down there to play baseball with a bunch of kids."

The Peregrines - named after the falcon that summers in the Connecticut Valley and winters in Cuba - brought new uniforms, bats, balls, and gloves for their opponents. They deliberately left home the trappings of capitalism, Game Boys and iPods.

Both teams said winning wasn't important.

Jake Farnham, 12, of Hanover, N.H., admitted he had butterflies about the series.

"I just don't know what to expect," he said. "They're different than us, not as high-tech. I know they don't have a lot of video games or television. They're out there playing baseball all the time."

Competition and friendship

Game day rose hot and steamy. The Peregrines arrived on air-conditioned buses to a international media circus, their opponents keeping their distance.

"Your presence will mean a new horizon," Sister Elena Benton told the 14 players and six coaches.

Coach Levin presented the Sisters with a big box of Whitman's chocolates.

Then they all attended Sunday Mass.

"They're just trying to wear us down," whispered Levin in the stifling heat.

In the back of the chapel, there was a whisper.

"Let's play some ball," said Ben Herndon-Miller, 12, of Norwich, Vt.

On the parched field, two metal-framed soccer goals were dragged out, with sheets on top for shade from the merciless Cuban sun.

Just before the two national anthems, Cuba coach Jorge Rey, a tall, sun-weathered former player, went over the rules with the Peregrines coaches. That's when the we-don't-care-who-wins pregame mantra went up in smoke like a Cohiba cigar.

"No curveballs," Rey demanded, arms flailing. "The kids are too young. It hurts their arms. We don't allow it and they haven't seen it."

Finally, in return he offered to ban stolen bases, which removed a weapon from his speedy team. And just like that, peace was restored.

In the first inning, Santos slugger Yoni Garcia smashed a massive home run over the mango tree in left. The Peregrines applauded in their gloves and even shook his hands as he circled the bases. They did this for every Cuban player.

"I was surprised because even though we were winning, they were happy," said Garcia. "This is a friendship game and there is friendship between us. We are taught the [US] government is bad, the people are good."

In the first two innings, three Santos players hit home runs. Asked about speculation that there were 15-year-olds playing, Rey deferred to a higher power.

"The nuns wouldn't accept a 15-year-old," he said. "You can check their identification cards."

Rey also said that the second team, the Mangos, only had players 10 and 11 years old.

Meanwhile, on the toasty field, the team gulped water. The media started creeping onto the field to share shade with the bewildered Santos left fielder under the mango tree. Three Peregrines players had to leave the field to lie down in the cool concrete convent.

When the mothers noticed that the US kids were feeling down, they temporarily switched allegiance, chanting, "Viva Pelegrino," and making noise with their homemade maracas - crushed soda cans on sticks.

Rey, all smiles in his Cincinnati Reds uniform, offered to shorten the game, but the Peregrines toughed it out. Final score: Santos, 16-5.

"I thought there would be more resistance, but the sun really killed them," said Rey.

The exhausted Peregrines sought shade. The Cuban kids followed, and soon, through a translator, they spoke. First about pets.

"I have a dog," said one Cuban player.

"I have a dog, four cats, and a fish," said the American.

Then they talked about baseball.

They ate Cuban sandwiches together, washed down with cola. They talked with sign language and giggled as if they were playing charades. The Peregrines gave out baseball cards. The Cuban players did not know the players, but they clearly loved them.

Before the second game, they were playing catch together.

"I thought that was priceless," said Levin.

Unforgettable experience

The Cubans accommodated the sun-struck Americans by moving up the games to 9 a.m. That left plenty of time for sightseeing - Hemingway's old room at the Ambos Mundos Hotel, El Morro castle, and the Plaza of the Revolution, where one Peregrine player asked why there were Bob Marley posters everywhere, mistaking the Jamaican reggae legend for the martyred Revolutionary icon Che Guevara.

But this trip was about baseball. The Americans were impressed by Cuba's defense and hustle. There was some divine intervention when one Santos player got hit by a fastball in the hip.

"There was a loud crack, but he was OK," said Levin. "He had a prayer book in his pocket."

An infield fly rule turned into an international Abbott and Costello routine, with umpires, coaches, and translators offering different opinions.

"They eventually got it right," said Levin.

And on Castro's 82d birthday, with Cuban television airing Fidel's greatest hits, Evan Greenwald of Norwich, Vt., pitched six innings of no-hit ball en route to a 6-4 win.

The first Mango Cup Championship went down to the last game between the Peregrines and Santos. The Peregrines scored three runs in the first inning on a pair of doubles, one off the mango tree. The Santos, who had been up late watching Cuba defeat the US in a controversial Olympic baseball game, could not catch up to Joe Cravero's fastball in losing, 3-1. There were no trophies and little celebration by the Peregrines who posted a 4-2 record.

"The main thing is peace, love, and understanding, and building relationships," said Rey.

For the team pictures, they posed one American and one Cuban, with arms around each other. It looked like a family picnic.

"What stands out most is the kids chasing each other around," said Levin. "They are connecting, that's the cool thing about it. These kids are getting the experience that they won't quite understand for years to come."

Levin invited the Cubans to New England.

"Maybe by some stroke of good fortune you guys could come north and play us in Vermont and New Hampshire," he said.

The players hugged their counterparts, autographed each other's jerseys, and headed for the bus.

"I feel sad," said Mario Avila, 10, of the Mangos. "They are my friends."

Herndon-Miller hated to leave.

"That makes me feel sad because I think if more teams played here against the Cuban kids, a lot more kids could have fun and Cuba and America could settle their relationship," he said.

As the players boarded the bus, Dr. Joe Cravero of Hanover, N.H., looked at his son's feet.

"I said, 'Where's your shoes?' and he said, 'I gave 'em to a guy. He needed them more than me.' "

Stan Grossfeld can be reached at grossfeld@globe.com