Photos by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
By Jon Weisman
In between visits with kids of all ages on MLB’s goodwill tour of Cuba, Yasiel Puig had a reunion with his half-brother, as Kevin Baxter writes for the Times.
… While Puig is of Cuba, until this week he hadn’t been in Cuba for nearly five years. And that seemed like an eternity to Yoan Hernandez, Puig’s half brother.
“I missed him,” Hernandez said Wednesday, a day after an emotional reunion. …
In addition, Clayton Kershaw met family members of his teammate and Cuba native, Yasmani Grandal.
… Yohandri Grandal and his father Avelino sat in the first row of the grandstands, watching the clinic. Baseball, and politics, have separated their family as well.
Yohandri’s brother, Yasmani, a Dodgers catcher, left Cuba for Miami with his mother 17 years ago. The siblings have rarely seen each other since and Avelino said he hasn’t seen his son since 2010.
He got a little closer Wednesday when Clayton Kershaw, who is also participating in the goodwill tour, saw Avelino waving a tiny blue Dodgers jersey with Grandal’s name and number. So Kershaw walked over to the two men and reached up into stands to shake their hands.
For now, talking to the pitcher who throws to his brother is about as close as Yohandri figures to get to a reunion. But he’s hopeful the negotiations between baseball officials in the U.S. and Cuba can change that. …
[mlbvideo id=”534840583″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com has more on Kershaw, who is the only player on the trip who doesn’t speak Spanish.
“They keep saying, ‘Baseball’s the way of life,’ but you don’t really know what that means,” Kershaw said. “Then you come here and you kind of understand. It’s so important, and it’s so new, too, this whole trip and what the people here can experience and what we as players can do. It’s just such new territory for us. I think the excitement of being here is infectious.”
One more piece for you: Over at Historic Dodgertown is a history of the relationship between the Dodger and Cuba.
Comments are closed.