Higinio Velez
Higinio Velez
Higinio Vélez Carriónis a Cuban baseball manager. After leading Santiago de Cuba to three straight championships in the Cuban National Series, he became the manager of the Cuban national baseball team, which he led to the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics...
forgot great hard humble love millions provide recognize respect sacrifice succeeded themselves time work
I'd like to recognize the work of the professional ballplayers, who for the first time forgot about the millions (of dollars) they make and thought about themselves to come here and provide a great show. We love and respect the major-leaguers, because most of them come from very humble backgrounds, and have succeeded with hard work, sacrifice and great effort.
champion olympic team
This team is the world champion and the Olympic champion. We didn't get that for free.
brings defend flag love men players team together
You have a team of men and not of names. If you don't play as a team, you have to defend the flag of your country. You have to defend your homeland, the love for your country. That is what brings together the players in a team.
baseball both came cuban days game great losing mercy patiently played players rule strong teams wait
Both teams played great baseball. Two days ago we told everyone to wait patiently for today's game... This is what Cuban baseball is all about. Our players wanted to come back strong after losing in a mercy rule game and they came through.
begins classic far gained happened tournament valuable
What's happened so far in the Classic is history. For us, the tournament begins today. In the first round, we gained some valuable experience.
basis cuba good mercy occur regular repeat rule using
I'd like to repeat that Cuba is still a very good team. If this were to occur on a regular basis - using the mercy rule on us - it would be worrisome.
courage cuba players seen shown
Now we've shown what Cuba can do. Now we've seen the courage of the players when they went out into the field.
baseball enjoy event fight four held rather together wait
Let's fight together so this event won't be held every four years but rather every two, so the baseball world won't have to wait so long to enjoy this.
break happens money player
Our players, when they play, don't think, I'm going to break my hand. Because the player that has money sometimes thinks, What happens if I break my hand?
cuban large major number players playing revolution
Some of the players are gone, but ... not all of them were stars. If we go back before the revolution, you will see that a lot of the Cuban players were playing in the major leagues. ... We have a large number of players.
games limited pitchers playing seven starters
Let me say that our pitchers now have a disadvantage because our pitchers usually have games where they pitch 125 pitches. And here they were limited to 65, 80 or 95. So our starters are used to playing seven or more innings.
admire bothers face hurts liked states united
I see it as something that really hurts me. It bothers me because we admire the way they play. We would have even liked to face the United States in this tournament.
beginning cuba days people saying shown three
I said it two or three days ago. I said this was only the very beginning of the Classic, and it was not over. People started saying that Cuba would be out and I said to be patient, and just wait. Now we've shown what Cuba can do.
continued courage fight team
Our team doesn't give up. Our team continued to fight with courage but it was very difficult.