Baseball officials visit Cuba to go over logistics for tourney (Bush ban)

Baseball officials visit Cuba to go over logistics for tourney
Jan. 12, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

NEW YORK -- Still waiting for the U.S. government to decide whether Cuba will be allowed to play in the World Baseball Classic, officials of the U.S. Major League Baseball commissioner's office and the American players association visited the island this week to go over logistics for the tournament.

Paul Archey, senior vice president of Major League Baseball International, went to the communist island nation along with union lawyer Doyle Pryor, according to Rich Levin, a spokesman for the MLB commissioner's office.

The U.S. Treasury Department last month denied MLB's application for Cuba to play in the United States. A permit is necessary because of laws governing certain transactions with Cuba, which generally is not allowed to receive U.S. currency.

The World Baseball Classic is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation but is being run by Major League Baseball and the players association. Cuba is scheduled to play the first round on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. Later rounds are scheduled on the U.S. mainland.
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http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9161790

And baby _Bush can't have that.

is hardly worthy of the name. IMO.

Anyone know if this is gonna be televised. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Also, I agree that Cuba should definitely be there

Baseball Official Back From Cuba

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: January 13, 2006
Paul Archey, who is Major League Baseball's senior vice president for international matters, returned from a one-day visit to Cuba yesterday as part of the bid to have the country included in the World Baseball Classic. "It was a frank and productive meeting," Archey said.

Archey would not say why he met with several Cuban baseball officials, but he was probably gathering information that had been requested by the United States Treasury Department.

Major League Baseball resubmitted for a license for the Cubans last month after the first license application was denied because the team would have made United States money from the competition. That violates the embargo against Cuba.

Since the revised submission guarantees that Cubans will not receive any financial gains from the 16-team tournament, baseball officials appeared optimistic that Cuba would be permitted to compete.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/sports/baseball/13cuba.html