Cuba's Tony Castro Is America's and Baseball's Friend

        Despite a passionate and effective plea from Cuba's Tony Castro {Photo courtesy: AP/Victor R. Caivano}, baseball/softball will not return to the Olympic Games. Sunday {Sept. 8th-2013} the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires, Argentina, voted to return wrestling to the Games in 2020 and 2024. Wrestling, baseball/softball, and squash were in the running for the lone remaining spot. There were 49 votes in favor of wrestling compared to 24 for baseball/softball and 22 for squash. Observers concluded that the combined efforts from the United States, Russia, and Iran tipped the scales in favor of wrestling. After the verdict, Tony Castro, almost in tears, said, " I want baseball and softball fans to know...we did all we could."

Antonio Castro is one of Cuba's best medical doctors and, unofficially, the island's best diplomat.

Dr. Castro is the 5th of Fidel Castro's nine children and he is a non-political but very loving son.

Like his father before him, Dr. Castro has an affinity for cigars and beautiful women.

And like his father {a former Athlete of the Year in Cuba} Dr. Castro is quite an athlete.
This year he won a golf tournament involving 18 nations.

But most Americans know Antonio because of his love for Baseball.
He became ubiquitous as Cuba's team doctor in Olympic and World Baseball Classic competition.

And this week baseball again thrust Dr. Castro into the limelight.

          In Buenos Aires Friday (Sept. 6th} the AP's Debora Rey {above} got a long interview with Tony Castro. He told her, "My message to the whole world is that our sport {baseball} forms part of the Olympic program." She asked him about Cuban-U.S. politics. He shook his head, saying, "That's not my role." She asked him about the health of his 87-year-old father Fidel Castro. He replied, "My father is very well, thank you."

      In Buenos Aires Saturday {September 7th} Tony Castro gave Pirate Irwin of Agence-France Presse a long interview in which he had these interesting and somewhat surprising comments: "This desire for the campaign to get baseball and softball restored as Olympic sports comes from deep inside me and my soul. Baseball is obviously my first love as a sport but I have become convinced about softball too as it ensures gender equality. Now I have a feeling for both. Baseball in Cuba is the pinnacle of the sporting pyramid, it is part of the social foundation with all the people playing as a team. I played as long as I could till a knee injury ended my baseball career, after which I became an orthopedic surgeon. For the social system, sport is very important in Cuba. This is my own work, not government work. I'm a doctor. I started to work in the Olympics from the lowest level, in the 2000 Olympics I was a docter on the Cuban medical team, and I have gradually raised my image. My name for sure is a weight on my shoulders. In St. Petersburg, Russia, in late May we -- meaning baseball/softball taken as one sport -- were one of the three sports to make the shortlist. However, even if we don't make the final cut on Sunday the world will not end for us. We will continue working because it is about globalising the sport and convincing people that it is a game worth playing. There are 65 million playing it around the world, there are 140 federations and 4 million junior leagues. The last World Baseball Championship was broadcast in over 200 countries. I enjoy this campaign. It is voluntary work for me and is to do with my love and my strong feelings for the sport. There is a lot of energy within me to see this through."

       This AP/Natacha Pisarenko photo of Dr. Antonio Castro was circulated around the globe Thursday {September 5th} as the AP, Reuters, and other news agencies reported on Antonio's Herculean efforts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to get baseball and softball restored as Olympic sports. The highly respected Antonio is Vice President of the International Baseball and Softball Federation, the two sports that were dropped by the Olympics after 2008. Antonio is leading the effort to persuade the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which votes on Sunday, to return baseball and softball to the Olympics as one sport. "We are fighting for the dreams of more than 65 million boys and girls around the world, fighting for those dreams of so many people, and to be in the party that is the Olympics," Antonio said Thursday. He added, 'If we are in the Olympic Games, it would be much more than the 65 million participants that we have today." The IOC this Sunday {September 9th} in Buenos Aires will add only one sport to the 2020 Olympics and it is expected to be either wrestling or squash, not baseball and softball, despite the heartfelt plea from Antonio Castro whose diligence revolves around his mutual love of both baseball and the Olympics.

Jennie Finch has been making the biggest pitch, with Antonio's help, to restore softball to the Olympics.

        This photo shows Antonio Castro {on the left} with American doctors who admire the Cuban for his medical expertise, his friendship with America, his genuine humanity, and his passion for worthy causes.

      Antonio was recently in New York, where he attended games at Yankee Stadium, as an international promoter of baseball and softball. On Sept. 5-2013 ESPN featured a 4-minute report by Paula Lavigne about Antonio's Olympic mission. In English, you can see and hear his passion for the two sports. You can dial up the report on ESPN by Googling these titles: "Castro Fighting for Sport He Loves," "The Battle For Baseball, Softball In Olympics;" or "2020 Olympics, Antonio Castro Campaigning to Help Baseball Win."

ESPN's Paula Lavigne said Dr. Castro prefers to be called "Tony" instead of "Antonio" or "Doctor." 

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