Sports Diplomacy. Michał Marcin Kobierecki

Exchanges and Cooperation was signed in Moscow with a clause on sports exchanges (Article XIII). As Sovetskii sport commented, “The foreign policy of our party and government is reflected in international sports relations which must play their part in establishing firm foundations of mutual understanding between our peoples.”¹⁰⁵ Even though basketball exchanges often included fierce competition for the win, in the general context of sports exchanges between the two Cold War superpowers, their primary role of fostering peaceful coexistence appeared to has been maintained.

      US-USSR basketball series were also organized in subsequent years, but their significance appeared to be decreasing. As before, they were disrupted as a result of political tensions, for example, after the Korean airliner was shot down over Sakhalin in 1983.¹⁰⁶ On the other hand, there were new forms of competitions, for example, in 1988 professional NBA team Atlanta Hawks played a preseason match in Tbilisi against the Soviet national team.¹⁰⁷

      The diplomatic significance of the American-Soviet basketball exchanges is believed to be more modest comparing to track and field dual meets. For many years Americans appeared to have treated them negligently, unlike the Soviets, but with time they also began to notice the prestigious potential of the matches against the Soviet Union, particularly after a controversial loss to the Soviets in the Olympic final in 1972. It is one of the main differences comparing to the track and field exchanges, in which at least at the beginning both sides were attaching importance to the result of sport competition. Of course, the main objective of the exchanges was to promote the idea of peaceful coexistence among both societies, which was visible even in the times of more fierce sports competition or more tensed political relations.

      American-Soviet sports exchanges are a clear example of using sport within public diplomacy. Both states recognized the need to engage in soft exchanges to step away from the explicitly confrontational tone in bilateral relations. This was to be reached through engaging respective societies, and sport appeared to be a perfect tool to achieve this goal. However, those possibly idealistic objectives were often covered by a typically Cold War competition—the desire to win against the rival proving one’s own superiority. This, alongside issues such as ruthless behavior of the players (in case of basketball exchanges), might have ruined the eventual positive diplomatic outcomes. For sure the exchanges were an example of what Murray calls traditional sports diplomacy, which does not erase their public character.

      Baseball Diplomacy between the United States and Cuba

      Cuba and the United States did not maintain diplomatic relations since 1961 (they were resumed in 2015). Cuban leader Fidel Castro accepted Soviet aid in 1959, whereas in April 1961 American government organized an unsuccessful invasion of an anti-Communist brigade of Cuban immigrants in the Bay of Pigs.¹⁰⁸ As a result, relations between the United States and Cuba were tensed since the 1960s. However, despite political differences, both nations had many cultural links, including interest in baseball, a sport brought to Cuba by Americans.¹⁰⁹ Cuban society remained under the influence of American culture despite the hostility of its leaders against the United States.¹¹⁰ All those circumstances determined the shape of sports diplomacy between both nations. It will be analyzed by the example of baseball exchanges, although it should be noted that both states used other sports for the same purposes, for instance, basketball. Baseball diplomacy was not a one-off event, but a long-time process of establishing and breaking baseball contacts.

      Despite tensed relations between the United States and Cuba, there were numerous initiatives to use sports contacts to foster political rapprochement. Baseball appeared to be a perfect medium taking into account that in the United States it became a civil religion, with political and diplomatic significance.¹¹¹ It is also very popular in Cuba where it is perceived as a political and cultural symbol of independence.¹¹² Both countries traditionally maintained very intensive baseball contacts. Then they were limited after the Cuban Revolution. However, in 1971 Cuban-born manager of San Diego Padres Preston Gómez announced his plan to take to Cuba an all-star team composed of Cuban MLB players in March that year. A series of matches was supposed to be a symbol of goodwill similar to the visit of table tennis players to China. MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and Cuban officials became interested in the initiative.¹¹³ The idea was a visible result of the success of ping-pong diplomacy. At the time, a high potential of sport in promoting peace and rapprochement between estranged states was recognized in the United States, and the plan was its obvious consequence.

      The US Department of State did not agree for the exchange though. It claimed that a high-level baseball contact would have put Nixon’s administration in a difficult position since he would need to justify rapprochement with an enemy.¹¹⁴ It should be noted that failures of the initiatives of organizing baseball exchanges did not mean there were no baseball contacts between both countries at all since teams from both countries played against each other within regular international baseball competition, including matches in the United States and Cuba. However, the majority of authors do not classify such games as the baseball diplomacy between the United States and Cuba.

      Preston Gómez’s failed attempt to organize a baseball tour in Cuba was not the only such initiative in that period. Cuban baseball players were invited to the United States, or American baseball officials traveled to Cuba, but none of these activities was developed toward a sports exchange. It appears that at the time US administration including Nixon himself was not ready for such opening to Cuba.¹¹⁵ However, over time, the political climate started to change, and American politicians began to accept the need to ease the relations with Cuba.

      

      At the beginning of 1975, another initiative of baseball exchange between the United States and Cuba was raised by Preston Gómez and Bowie Kuhn. It assumed a series of friendly matches between Cubans playing in MLB and Cuban teams. Cuban officials were interested in the idea.¹¹⁶ It should be noted that this and other attempts to establish baseball exchanges with Cuba were initiated on a grassroots level. They were proposed by people associated with American baseball clubs or the MLB league. Such a mechanism is typical for new public diplomacy, which is often pursued directly by individuals or social organizations. Such mechanisms can also be associated with democratic countries with active civil societies. It should also be noted that despite the declared motivation of fostering friendship and goodwill between the United States and Cuba, another, possibly a more important motivation of the initiators of the exchange was to obtain talented Cuban players to play in American teams.

      The new initiative led to an intensive exchange of correspondence between Kuhn, the assistant secretary of the US Department of State William Rogers, and the secretary of state Henry Kissinger. Within his attempts to arrange the exchange Kuhn even met with Cuban officials in Mexico in February 1975 to discuss the details. Rogers appeared to be in favor of the exchange, whereas Kissinger was opposing.¹¹⁷ The major problem for the Department of State was the lack of goodwill gestures from Cuba. Nonetheless, the US Department of State seemed to have been seriously considering such a possibility. Eventually, on February 24, 1975, Kissinger canceled the exchange, probably to avoid pressure by the anti-Cuban republican lobby.¹¹⁸ Another initiative by Barrie Kuhn assumed the organization of two exhibition matches in Cuba in March 1976 between MLB teams which practiced in Florida at the time. Once again, it failed after Kissinger opposed in connection with Cuban military engagement in Angola. Despite various difficulties and odds, new ideas of organizing baseball exchanges between the United States and Cuba kept appearing. The possibility of turning them into reality appeared after the change of American administration. When Jimmy Carter became the US president in January 1977 American relations with Cuba improved, for example, a travel ban between both countries was abolished. At the time, a visit of the New York Yankees to Cuba was proposed.¹¹⁹ The team was to play three matches against the Cuban national team in Havana, but after other MLB clubs opposed fearing that Yankees would get an unfair advantage in scouting talented Cuban players MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn blocked the visit and proposed sending MLB all-star team instead. In response, Cubans canceled their invitation.¹²⁰ This situation demonstrates the observation mentioned earlier that initiatives of US-Cuban baseball exchanges had bottom-up nature and their primary goal was to acquire talented Cuban players. Nevertheless, the effects of possible exchanges were expected to have diplomatic significance