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 Baseball in Cuba 1962 to present: In 1961 the Communist Government of Cuba abolished professionalism in sports. It was the end of the venerable Cuban Professional Baseball League. In its place the Cuban Government instituted a state run amateur sports program patterned after the sport machines of the Soviet bloc. Sports schools and academies were set up to find and develop skilled athletes to represent Cuba in international competitions. Various baseball leagues are set up to provided the competition necessary to develop skill and to weed out the very best for Team Cuba selection. Soon Team Cuba was dominating the amateur  baseball scene. See the results of the International Competitions here. On the island a tournament is held each year and a champion is crowned (see list below). In the last few years many of the stars from these tournaments and Team Cuba have defected to the United States in search of personal freedom and compensation for their skill. These Defectors have shaken up the Cuban sports machine, which no longer dominates like it did in the past. Nevertheless the love of baseball of the Cuban people lives on and the skill of the Cuban Baseball player continues to impress fans from all over the world.
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