I thought these statisitcs were interesting. I'd imagine a liberated Cuba would lead to windfall of 10's of millions of dollars for Cuban baseball players and probably boxers as well.
MLB International Signings By Country (2009)
Dominican Republic $35.8M
Venezuela $18.9M
Cuba $4.0M
South Korea $3.6M
Japan $1.8M
Source: MLB club file
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Not to mentions it's doctors, engineers, artists, etc... etc... etc....
I don't know this has changed. This is not a liberated Cuba
Interesting numbers, Tony. If history is any indication (e.g., I understand that Cubans were among the first foreign born Latin American players in MLB history and prior to the Cuban Revolution comprised a the majority of those ranks), those numbers will multiply many times over in a future democratic, free market based Cuba especially once MLB clubs are able to re-establish the same developmental farm systems that have been so successful in places like the Dominican Republic over the last 20 plus years.
They say the next great Cuban born MLB prospect is Aroldis Chapman, whose fast ball has been consistently clocked at a freakish 100+ and is now living in Barcelona, Spain waiting to establish his residency so he can be drafted as a free agent. Call me selfish but I'd love to see him play one day for the Marlins. Here is a link to an interesting story on Mr. Chapman's that recently ran on ESPN's "Outside the Lines."
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4384525
Update: Mr. Chapman has established residency in Andorra (a tiny country bordering) Spain and France) and has applied to Major League Baseball for free-agency status which, if granted, will mean that he will be able to bypass the draft process and negotiate directly with MLB teams.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4491904
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