22 Quotes by Frederich Cepeda

We have played in World Cups, world championships and Olympics. The message is already out there. ... In Cuba, baseball is the No. 1 sport. People in Cuba had their doubts about us coming and about the results.

We are all amateur players, therefore playing against major league players is the greatest victory for us.

If we could win Monday, it would be the greatest victory in Cuban baseball history.

From the very beginning, we said that we were going to play baseball. The uncertainty as to whether Cuba was going to be part of it or not in baseball, as we say in Cuba, 'The ball is round.' We have done it now.

For us this was very big because everybody saw Cuba as a smaller team. They thought of the other teams, greater teams, bigger teams, powerful. They thought we could never win against Venezuela, that we did not have any possibility or any chances. And here you have it. We know how to play under pressure.

I think this Classic is historic because it demonstrated that not only the players from the paid major leagues can carry the supremacy. We've demonstrated that what matters is sacrifice, human values and the effort you give on the field.

I think the message has been delivered. Baseball is baseball in all parts of the world ? be it in the big leagues, be it amateur. You have to value baseball as such. It's not about the price of the player but the heart with which the baseball is played. Our team is a team that has fought for unity. The soul of our team is unity. There aren't any stars.

Our message is already out there from our international competitions. I think we showed people that baseball is spoken here, baseball and nothing else.

We came to play baseball. Like the slogan says, we speak baseball.