DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Alex Gonzalez has been known to leave his feet and dive head-long after line drives.
The Blue Jays shortstop stood with his feet firmly on his convictions in front of his locker the other day in the visiting clubhouse at Bradenton, Fla.
"I wouldn't have gone to Cuba to play in an exhibition game," Gonzalez, a first generation Cuba-American, said.
Emotions over the Baltimore Orioles' visit to play a Cuban all-star team in Havana still run high in Florida.
"I wouldn't have played out of respect to the Cuban people forced to leave their cities and homes," Gonzalez said. "I don't think it was right to go and play a baseball game, considering all the property people were forced to leave behind as they left their homeland."
Three teams have expressed interest in going to Cuba next year.
If Jays "el presidente" Gord Ash has any Havana plans he should know of Gonzalez's political stance.
"The only way I'd go, was if Fidel (Castro) was gone," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez noticed a picture in Monday's newspaper of Baltimore owner Peter Angelos, Cuban leader Castro and commissioner Bud Selig seated together and wondered what gives.
"There they were having a lovely conversation," Gonzalez said. "It's obvious not everyone is informed of what took place in Cuba. There are unanswered questions, how could a game like this be put together so quickly?"
Angelos came up with the idea this off-season, and an Orioles delegation made a visit to Cuba in January.
Bill Gonzalez, the shortstop's father, left Cuba a year before the revolution.
"My father saw it coming, he didn't have to come over on a boat," Alex Gonzalez said.
A professor of electrical engineering at the University of Miami, Bill Gonzalez was told by his son how he never would set foot on a ball diamond in Cuba.
"He agreed with my decision," Alex Gonzalez said. "He didn't say much, but I could sense looking in his eyes and from the tone of his voice he was proud of me."
Texas Rangers first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, a Cuban, has said he would not have played in Cuba.
"I'm sure a lot of guys wouldn't have gone," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez wondered what the purpose of the trip was.
"What were they trying to accomplish? Was it to open relations with Cuba or to get a look at players? I'm sure they have a lot of good players, it's their national sport."
The communist revolution, led by Castro, took place in 1959.
Washington maintains a 37-year-old economic embargo against Cuba dating back to the missile crisis in 1962.
"Stories I've heard, not from my father, but Cuban people, would turn your stomach," Gonzalez said.
"They suffered through sea sickness and were sick on one another, leaving everything they owned behind."
Around the league: Hideo Nomo, who went from NL rookie of the year in 1995 to the waiver wire this spring, signed a minor-league contract with the Chicago Cubs yesterday ... Anaheim Angels shortstop Gary DiSarcina underwent surgery to have a plate screwed into his left forearm, which he broke on Feb. 21 ... The New York Yankees have signed 17-year-old outfielder-third baseman Willi Mo Pena to a five-year, $3.7-million contract. Pena originally signed with the New York Mets last year. But on March 7, the commissioner's office ruled the Mets had illegally signed him.
Copyright © 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership.
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