No sound is more exciting than the crack of a baseball bat hitting the ball. It’s quite an experience to watch your favorite team score that winning run in the bottom of the ninth or pull off a double-play to ensure their victory. The crowd roars and stands to its feet. The winning team’s dugout empties onto the field. It’s no wonder they call baseball the Great American Pastime.
It was the 1950s and Harry Truman was president. A young college player with curly hair and a great fastball stepped up to the plate. Strike three! Another victory! He thought the Yankees would draft him for sure. As fortune would have it, they passed him by. Returning to his native country of Cuba, Fidel Castro decided to give politics a try. His presidency would span four decades. Just think, if he’d have had a better fastball there may have never been a Cuban Missile Crisis or a Bay of Pigs.
Last month, shortly before Christmas, Fidel Castro expressed outrage that the Olympic (1992, 1996, 2004) and world champion Cuban baseball team was being denied the right to participate in the first World Cup-style baseball tournament by the Bush administration.
Castro spoke out against President Bush on the second day of Cuba’s National Assembly. “He is very much a fool,” said Castro. “He doesn’t know who the Cuban baseball players are, or that they are Olympic and world champions. If he knew, he would know something about this country’s government.”
The “World Baseball Classic” is a 16-team tournament scheduled for March 3-20 in Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. commonwealth, and Japan. The semifinals and final will take place in San Diego.
Cuba’s ban from playing on U.S. soil is due to the longtime U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. The Cuban team needed a special license from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to participate in the tournament but the Treasury Department rejected Cuba’s application for such a license because of concerns that Castro’s government would experience financial gain.
The decision to prohibit the Cuban team from competing in the tournament brought protests from the U.S. Olympic Committee and Major League Baseball. Also, Puerto Rico’s baseball federation announced that it would not host the tournament if the Cuban team was prohibited from competing.
Major League Baseball has reapplied for a license since the Cuban Baseball Federation announced that any profit gained by the team from its participation in the tournament would be donated to Hurricane Katrina victims.
This whole situation reminds me of when President Carter boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics during the Cold War era. A young gymnast from Indiana State University named Kurt Thomas was scheduled to compete in those Olympics but missed his chance.
Does prohibiting young athletes from competing in games meant to inspire goodwill between nations really make the kind of statement that our political leaders hope to make? Is prohibiting Cuba from competing in the first World Baseball Classic going to inspire them to cooperate with us more or cooperate with us less? Will it endear us to the citizens of Cuba or alienate them from us?
Sometimes, being hard-nosed toward your enemies just adds fuel to the fire. Proverbs 30:33 says, “Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.”
There are times when you need to be firm and enforce strict policy but our nation’s leaders should never close the door to opportunities that could inspire goodwill, friendship and peaceful resolutions between nations.
Sports have been used to bring people together since the beginning of time. The Bush administration should be taking advantage of the opportunity to build a bridge to Havana instead of widening the gulf between our two nations. Let’s enjoy the tournament together in the spirit of friendship rather than the spirit of enmity.
Pete Chalos, a longtime teacher, coach and public servant in Vigo County, was mayor of Terre Haute for 16 years. Send e-mail to pchalos@netscape.com.
Pete Chalos
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January 11, 2006
Pete Chalos: Use baseball classic to unite us, not further divide us
- Pete Chalos
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- Pete Chalos: Fluoridation removal should be on local agenda Last year, 11 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee unions, representing over 7,000 environmental and public health professionals, called for a moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs across the country. I wrote a two-part commentary exploring the evidence that inspired the letter these professionals sent to the U.S. Congress.
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Pete Chalos: Traditional family unit has served America well
Much has been said concerning the institution of marriage this past few years. Elements of our society have been trying their best to redefine marriage. Every American tradition associated with raising a family has been questioned by some group or another. Some feel the rules concerning marriage and family have changed because our society has taken progressive leaps beyond any society the world has ever known. Others feel we are losing touch with the time-tested wisdom of our fathers and the tradition this great nation was founded upon.
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Pete Chalos: Never too soon to pay attention to 2008 election
The next presidential election is already a hot topic of discussion in the press and we aren’t even close to the election year yet. Everyone is interested in finding out which candidate will have an edge come 2008.
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Pete Chalos: Community needs leadership from best and brightest
What does it take to win an election? Last week, we saw the climax of months of hard work and well-organized campaigning. Some candidates had been preparing to run for several months or even a few years. Spouses, children, family, friends and colleagues had been organizing, recruiting and promoting before most voters were even aware an election was coming up. It takes a lot of time and effort and a great deal of commitment to win an election.
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Pete Chalos: A community must invest in itself to improve itself
This month, the Terre Haute City Council voted in favor of the proposed tax increment finance (TIF) district on Indiana 46, passing it 6-3. Council members Jim Chalos, Rich Dunkin, Chuck Miles, Todd Nation, Shelva Warner and Cliff Lambert voted for the resolution.
This evening, the Vigo County Redevelopment Commission is going to conduct a public hearing concerning the details of the resolution, outlining the specifics. Upon their confirmation, the resolution will go back to the Terre Haute City Council for adoption on May 11. -
Pete Chalos: In Iraq, we must get job done, then get out
You can call it what you want to call it but what is happening right now in the country of Iraq is a civil war. Fancy words like “insurgency” aren’t fooling anyone. You’ve got two sides fighting over the fate of a country. That is a civil war.
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Pete Chalos: America must maintain high standards of immigration
My father John Chalos arrived from Greece at Ellis Island in 1910 for the purpose of working in Seattle. He ended up losing his ticket while the train was stopped in Terre Haute.
- Pete Chalos: Your vote counts in numerous and hidden ways
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Pete Chalos: State has moved too quickly on Major Moves initiative
The reason the government builds fire stations, roads, sidewalks and parks is to accommodate the general public. No single private citizen can afford to build all of these facilities on his own so we all chip in and pay taxes. As a result, we all end up benefiting from the use of the facilities. Government facilities are built for the public and they belong to the public. That’s the basic premise of a tax-supported Democratic society. Government by the people and for the people.
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Pete Chalos: City’s leaders, citizens must be willing to support progress
We live in an extremely competitive society. From early childhood, we are taught the difference between winning and losing. In some families, more time is spent learning the difference between winning and losing than the difference between right and wrong.
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Pete Chalos: The future of elderly care in America
This past month, my family and I have been reviewing all available options for the future care of me and my wife Ulla. At 78 years old, I am finding that I can no longer take care of myself and my wife the way I once could. In truth, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been able to do so on my own, but learning to accept and admit it has been a difficult process.
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Pete Chalos: China poised to become next big economic, military power
“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition onto the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons. … If the Americans are determined to interfere, we will be determined to respond. … We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course, the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”
This statement was made a few months ago to members of the press by General Zhu Chenghu of the People’s Liberation Army, also a professor at China’s National Defense University, concerning U.S. opposition to China’s threats to invade Taiwan. -
Pete Chalos: Women’s basketball flourishing in the Valley
This month, the ISU women’s basketball team recorded its 18th straight win. The victory also marked the milestone 100th career win for ISU women’s head coach Jim Wiedie. He and Edith Godleski are the only two women’s basketball coaches to achieve that mark in ISU history. Local golf enthusiasts may remember Edith from her impressive record in local golf tournaments.
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Pete Chalos: Lack of opportunity raises concerns for future
Over the years, I have been invited to speak to numerous service groups, church groups and political organizations within the community of Terre Haute. After sharing a few of my own thoughts and ideas, I always take the opportunity to answer questions from the crowd. I look forward to these question and answer sessions. In fact, it’s my favorite part of the meeting.
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Pete Chalos: Diligent oversight of utilities an important mission
At the end of January, ExxonMobil Corp. revealed record-breaking profits, the highest quarterly profits ever reported by a public company in the history of America. Exxon’s annual profit was $36.13 billion. That’s a 42 percent rise since last year.
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Pete Chalos: Major Moves plan could be major disaster for Indiana
The governor is at it again. First, he closed down license branches in rural areas, forcing many Indiana citizens to take a day off from work and drive long distances in order to get anything done concerning their license or picture identification (which he made a requirement for voter registration). Then he established an Inspector General to act as his own personal prosecutor (along with a staff of lawyers in every Indiana county). Then he crammed his plan for daylight-saving time down our throats.
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Pete Chalos: Use baseball classic to unite us, not further divide us
No sound is more exciting than the crack of a baseball bat hitting the ball. It’s quite an experience to watch your favorite team score that winning run in the bottom of the ninth or pull off a double-play to ensure their victory. The crowd roars and stands to its feet.
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Pete Chalos: This nation needs purpose, trusted leaders to show the way
Just like individuals, nations need goals. In the 29th chapter of the book of Proverbs it is written, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” In the absence of a unified sense of purpose, progress is replaced with unrest. Like any nation, America needs a national vision, a national direction and national goals.
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