Of Major Interest

Here are some major league baseball headlines from 1997: "O My, Omar: Linares Homers Again"; "Mesa is the New Wizard, Says Ozzie"; "Ajete Spins a Cubano-Hitter."

A lot has to happen before those stories become realities, but after watching Cuba mambo through the first official baseball competition of the Olympics, any self-respecting fan would love to know what would happen if Cubans were allowed by Fidel Castro and by the U.S. State Department to play in the majors.

While winning all nine games it played in Barcelona, Cuba outscored its opponents 95-16. (Read that again.) When a whole team hits like Ty Cobb (.404), slugs like Babe Ruth (.665) and pitches like Cy Young (1.27 ERA), it's hard to pinpoint the stars, but among the Cuban players who stood out were a pair of Mesas, centerfielder V�ctor Mesa and shortstop Germ�n Mesa, and a couple of Omars, third baseman Omar Linares and pitcher Omar Ajete.

V�ctor hit .516, slugged .903 and drove in 14 runs; on Aug. 4 his two-run homer in the sixth inning broke up a close semifinal against the U.S., a game the Cubans won 6-1. Germ�n made up for his paltry bat (he hit a mere .407) with some truly wondrous glove work: In Cuba's 11-1 victory over Chinese Taipei in the gold medal game, he made five superb plays in the first four innings. Linares, whose infield arm is unequaled by any in the States, hit .500 with four homers. Ajete, the lefthander who shut down the U.S. with 8? innings of relief in Cuba's 9-6 win in the preliminary round, blanked the Americans again in the semifinal, striking out six in 3? innings. Said U.S. coach Ron Fraser, who retired this summer after 30 years at the University of Miami, "I've never seen anyone as good as Ajete in all my years of coaching. If I had, I would have had him investigated."

When Fraser was recently quoted as saying that the Cubans might be as good as the Cleveland Indians, the Indians took umbrage. But if they took Linares, Germ�n Mesa, second baseman Antonio Pacheco and first baseman Lourdes Gourriel, the Indians might, given a year or two of adjustment, have the best infield in baseball.

Perhaps out of denial, major league scouts have a tendency to downgrade Cuban ballplayers. But the Cubans know far more about U.S. baseball than vice versa—they see major league games on television all the time—so it makes sense to ask a Cuban (in this case, V�ctor Mesa) how he thinks his teammates would do in the majors.

"I think 90 percent of our team could play in the majors," said Mesa, listed as being 32 but suspected of being older. "If I were a major league team drafting Cubans, these would be my picks: Omar Linares. Omar Ajete. Antonio Pacheco. Orestes Kindel�n. Germ�n Mesa. A few years ago, I would have been there, but my moments have passed.

"Linares would be an almost immediate sensation in the majors. No other third baseman would have his numbers. Ajete throws 95, 96 miles per hour, and he has six pitches. Believe me when I tell you that you have nobody like him.

"Pacheco might be as good a second baseman as Ryne Sandberg. Kindel�n, our leftfielder, reminds me of your Frank Thomas. We have seen films of Ozzie Smith and Germ�n Mesa side by side, and you can not distinguish between the two."

The Cubans quickly disappeared from Barcelona. After receiving their gold medals shortly after midnight, they flew home at dawn. But one of them did leave a message behind. Gourriel left it in the ninth inning of the semifinal with the U.S. After Phil Nevin, the third baseman whom the Houston Astros had made the first pick in this year's draft, singled with one out, Gourriel patted him on the butt and spoke to him in Spanish. Nevin appealed to the umpire for a translation. "Good luck in the major leagues with the Astros," Gourriel had said. "Hopefully, I'll be able to see you there someday."