Major League Baseball announced today Derek Jeter will attend an exhibition game in Havana, Cuba, March 22 between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National Baseball Team. Also representing MLB at the game will be its commissioner, Rob Manfred, and chief baseball officer, Joe Torre.
MLB will also bring along Cuban natives Luis Tiant, a pitcher who played 19 seasons mostly for the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox, and Jose Cardenal, an outfielder who split his 18 seasons with the Chicago Cubs, California Angels, New York Mets and more.
Tiant and Cardenal preceded today's influx of Cuban-born MLB players, some of whom returned to the island in December as part of a "goodwill tour" that MLB and the league's Players Association set up. The March 22 trip is a second part of sorts to the December tour, as it will be first exhibition game in Cuba since the Baltimore Orioles played the Cuban National Team in Havana in 1999.
Derek Jeter, Cuban-born dignitaries Luis Tiant and Jose Cardenal will join MLB during Rays’ historic trip to Havana. pic.twitter.com/EqhOynXtn0
— MLB (@MLB) March 11, 2016
Making an effort to improve diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba, President Barack Obama will also attend the March 22 game in Havana. One byproduct of the U.S. and Cuba re-opening lines of communication could well be a refined posting system for baseball players to legally leave Cuba for MLB similar to those the league has with Japan and other nations.
But Jeter's inclusion raised more than a few eyebrows. The website he owns, the Player's Tribune, covered the December tour and Torre, his former manager, is also attending, but after retiring from 20 years with the New York Yankees, Jeter publicly stated he wants to own an MLB franchise.
Jeter owns a mansion in St. Petersburg, Fla., so large and extravagant it has garnered complaints from his neighbors, thus sparking rumors that the Rays would be a logical team for him to purchase. In typical "Jeterian" fashion, he has said nothing to fuel the rumors, but the Cuba trip will be one of his few public appearances for an official MLB event since retiring.
ESPN and ESPN Deportes will air the March 22 exhibition game at 1:30 p.m. ET and the network will offer an online live stream on WatchESPN as well. "SportsCenter" will air live in Havana on game day and the day before.
