Armour: Cuban players enjoy trip home not knowing when they will return

HAVANA -- Jose Abreu ducked into the gangway and, hearing calls from the fans, came back out for one more curtain call.

There’s no telling when he’ll be allowed to return to Cuba again, and he was going to savor every last moment here while he could.

“There was a space in my heart that I had here that I was missing,” the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year said Thursday. “I’m very happy.”

Thrilled as Abreu, Yasiel Puig and Brayan Pena were for the rare chance to go home, the three-day trip ended all too soon. As they said goodbye Friday to the family and friends they were still getting reacquainted with, they did so not knowing when – or even if – they’ll see them again.

For all of the luxuries the major leaguers have, freedom to see their families is not one of them.

“In reality, we haven’t been able to spend that much time together,” said Yoan Hernandez, Puig’s half-brother and his constant companion this week. “Because four days can’t compensate for the five years of being apart.”

Major League Baseball’s “Goodwill Tour” was a watershed moment for many reasons, but none greater than the inclusion of the Cuban-born players.

Traditionally, players who defect from the impoverished and isolated nation are barred from returning. They’re considered traitors, with exile the price for their disloyalty.

And it’s not just the players who are made to pay.

This week was the first time Puig had met his young nephew, who would look like a mini-Me of his famous uncle even if they didn’t have matching Mohawks. Pena hadn’t seen his 84-year-old grandmother since he left in 1999.

Abreu had been separated from his son, now 5, since he fled in August 2013.

Cuban-born players were allowed to meet with their families during the three-day trip. Though no restrictions were put on the players -- they were free to roam if they chose -- the visits took place at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba for the sake of convenience. And, given the frenzy the mere sight of the players caused, crowd control.

“Coming back and seeing my family, it was a great, great, great atmosphere,” said Pena, who had more than 20 family members waiting to greet him when he arrived Tuesday. “Everyone was very excited about it.”

Now they go their separate ways.

Again.

“I have goals that I have in the United States and I have to keep working,” Abreu said. “But it’s very hard. Very, very hard.”

At least they can leave this time without their hearts in their throats and the taste of fear in their mouths. Their future is secure in the U.S., and they know that their relatives here are happy, healthy and safe.

“It’s going to be hard,” Pena acknowledged. “You try to take those great memories with you.”

And hope for the future.

It’s no secret MLB wants Cuba to be an open market, for players to be allowed to come and go between the two countries. Antonio Castro, Fidel’s youngest son and vice president of the Cuban baseball federation, has indicated that is his wish, too.

In an interview with American reporters Thursday, Castro said this is a new era for MLB and Cuban baseball, one in which he hopes players “live in a normal world and they have the same rights.”

But getting baseball officials to agree is only half the battle, with the rest in the hands of the U.S. and Cuban governments.

While relations between Cuba and the United States are improving, tensions remain. Trips like MLB’s “Goodwill Tour” can help ease them, reminding the governments there is common ground between them.

“I would say baseball is going to be a huge part of whatever’s going to happen in the future,” Pena said. “(This trip) proved that baseball is really powerful. It proved that baseball can really move people’s hearts.

“The fact we’re here is proof that anything can happen.”

Even something that was once unthinkable, like allowing players who fled Cuba to come back home and see their families.