On May 3rd, 1999, the Cuban National Team played the Baltimore Orioles in Game 2 of an exhibition series at Camden Yards. The series began with Game 1 at Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana, Cuba, where the Orioles won 3-2 in extra innings. However, in Game 2 at Camden Yards, the Cuban National Team bounced back, defeating the Orioles 12-6 and splitting the series. Approximately 48,000 attended the game at Camden Yards, including 300 individuals from Cuba, from media personnel, students, and former players.
Jose Contreras, delivered an outstanding performance in Game 1 despite the loss, took the mound once again as the starting pitcher for the Cuban team. Contreras would only last one and one third innings. He would walk, Mike Bordick and after almost an hour rain delay, walked Albert Belle followed a two run double by Harold Baines. He would finish his outing allowing three hits, three runs (two earned), two walks and a strikeout.
Norge Vera would replace Contreras, the 1999 Cuban National Series MVP, would go seven hitless innings before allowing three straight hits in the 9th inning capped off by a home run from Delino DeShields. Ormari Romero would close out the game for Cuba.
Cuba’s offense rose to the occasion, improving from their Game 1 performance with 18 total hits. Third baseman Omar Linares, a legendary figure in Cuban baseball and often regarded as one of the best players to never play in MLB, went 4-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Shortstop Danel Castro was perfect at the plate, going 4-4 with two triples, two RBI and scoring 4 runs. The future mainstay catcher of the Cuban National Teams, Ariel Pestano, went 2-3 with a run scored. Seven players recorded hits for Cuba, with five having multi-hit games.
The moment of night for Cuba was in the top of the 9th inning, leading 9-3 Andy Morales would hit a three run home run off Gabe Molina. Morales celebrated with emotion, his hands in the air, soaking in the moment among the cheers of the Cuban fans and his teammates.
The game faced controversy, drawing backlash from the Cuban American community. In the 5th inning, an anti-Castro protestor entered the field with a freedom sign in protest of Cuba. He was tackled and lifted into the air, then slammed onto the ground by a Cuban umpire. Police quickly intervened to prevent further escalation.
After the game, former Cuban pitcher from the 1960s-70s Rigoberto Betancourt Herrera defected. Herrera was among the 300 people who attended the game from Cuba. After the game, Herrera initially planned to leave the stadium with the fans but couldn’t because he didn’t have his passport and other paperwork with him. At the hotel, he went outside for a smoke break with his bag and hid in the bushes for several hours. Later, he sought asylum at a Baltimore police station. Cuba implemented heightened security measures around their players. Although no active players defected during the event, defections would occur in the years following.
Andy Morales attempted to defect twice in 2000. In his first attempt, he was caught at sea and returned to Cuba under the “Wet feet, dry feet” policy. However, his second attempt succeeded, and he ended up in Peru. He subsequently signed with the New York Yankees in 2001. Morales played 48 games in Double-A before being placed on waivers and joining the Western Baseball League for the remainder of the season. He then signed with the Boston Red Sox in 2002 and played on their Double-A team.
Jose Contreras, considered one of Cuba’s top pitchers, would defect in 2002 while playing for the National team in Mexico. He would sign a four year 32 million deal with the New York Yankees and make his MLB debut on March 31st 2003 vs the Toronto Blue Jays.
His career spanned from 2003 to 2013, during which he played for the Yankees, White Sox, Rockies, Phillies, and Pirates, earning an All-Star selection in 2006 and winning a World Series with the Chicago White Sox in the same year. On January 29, 2024, at 52 years old, he started for Fepcube’s Cuban Independent Team in an exhibition game against the Houston Apollos.
It would be nearly two decades, 1999 to 2016, before another MLB team would play in Cuba. On March 22nd, 2016 the Tampa Bay Rays played an exhibition game in Havana with Presidents Obama and the President of Cuba in attendance. Dayron Varona became the first player to defect to the US and play a game in Cuba. The Cuban team would feature future MLB All Stars Adolis Garica and Yennier Cano.