Edison Rentería spoke with our media outlet at the press conference held for the announcement of the Intercontinental Baseball Series that will be played in Barranquilla, Colombia, from January 25 to February 1, 2024.
For the first time, a team of Cubans not affiliated with the Cuban Baseball Federation will participate in a prestigious international tournament, setting a precedent for future participations such as in the Caribbean Series.
The most interesting thing is that teams from the FCB and FEPCUBE cound have faced off in this competition, as revealed by Edison Rentería, one of the main organizers. Renteria indicated that an invitation was sent to the Cuban Federation to participate, but they have not yet received a response despite knowing that a Cuban team from Miami would play.
Queremos expresar nuestra gratitud infinita a Edison Rentería y su organización, Team Rentería, por abrirnos las puertas de la Serie Profesional Intercontinental. Estamos verdaderamente agradecidos por la oportunidad, es hora de representar a los peloteros cubanos profesionales pic.twitter.com/yIyyhTDIAS
— FEPCUBE (@fepcube) October 6, 2023
How did you approach FEPCUBE to invite them to your event?
We have always been close. Thank God I had the opportunity to play professional baseball, be a manager and I have a good relationship with all the Cuban-American players. When we started the project in Colombia for the professional league in 1999 and the Latin American Series, I have always thought that a group of Cuban-American players had the talent, the potential and the commercial market of Miami also made them a very attractive item. We had to take advantage of it.”
At what point did the team idea come together?
About five or seven years ago I spoke with the “El Duque” and told him about our interest in having them be part of the Latin American Series. We talked more about it recently and thank God that it happened now. We are expanding the participation to other continents and giving these players the opportunity to participate in this project as well.
What does it mean to you that this project will become a reality in January?
God willing, we will be starting the series in Colombia on January 25 with a Cuban-American team. It will be very important because [Cuba] has many high-level players, major league and minor league players. The talent that has left Cuba for the United States is something that we must take advantage of and that team should be able to compete with anyone in the tournament.
Where do you want to go with this event?
We have been working for a long time. The idea here to promote baseball on a the world stage and have the countries we invited compete while also putting on a good show. In 2019 we had the opportunity to put Argentina and Curaçao in the tournament. We want to let all these countries come and showcase their talent.
You revealed that you invited the Cuban Federation, but there was no response.
We invited them, we had the opportunity to speak with the president of the federation. They replied that they were mulling it over, because the Cuban-Americans were there also. But the Cuban-Americans have no qualms with them to participating. They have the doors open to join us in the event. If they decide to join I think it would be something nice. “Unity is our motto, we want to unite all countries through this sport.