BEISBOL DIPLOMACY

WASHINGTON D.C.: To commemorate the historic competition of a U.S. and Cuban baseball team on a diamond in Havana this Sunday, the National Security Archive today posted a collection of documents which chronicles the origins of "baseball diplomacy"--an effort initiated 25 years ago.

The documents, ranging from unclassified letters to declassified secret cables and high-level State Department memoranda, reveal the efforts of then-commissioner of baseball, Bowie Kuhn, and his counterparts in Cuba, along with aides to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, to arrange a game between U.S. and Cuban teams in 1975. Among the revelations are:

• Baseball diplomacy would "help break the ice" between two nations separated by decades of hostility, as ping pong had done for U.S.-Chinese relations, according to memoranda written for Kissinger.

• U.S. officials believed that "picking a game we are likely to win would go well with Americans who are depressed by the regimented victories of the Communists in Olympic games."

•  Kissinger's top aide on Latin America, Assistant Secretary of State William Rogers, argued that a baseball game between the two countries "would have a symbolic significance not limited to the sports pages," and "would also reawaken memories of your China moves."

U.S. government officials appealed to Henry Kissinger on Kuhn's behalf, arguing that such a "non-political" meeting of the U.S. and Cuban teams would perhaps "bridge the gap between the Bay of Pigs and a new relationship with Castro." But, despite their persistent efforts, Kissinger twice rejected Kuhn's proposal.

"These documents provide a historical background to the Orioles exhibition game in Cuba," noted National Security Archive senior analyst Peter Kornbluh. "Beisbol diplomacy is not a new idea," he said, "but after 25 years it is an idea whose time has finally come."

Despite continuing controversies, the Baltimore Orioles will be the first major-league baseball team to play in Cuba in 40 years. A second game in Baltimore is slated for later in the Spring.

The beisbol diplomacy documents and others are available on the Archive website.