The Political Economy of Cuban Baseball Player Smuggling and Its Possible Impacts on International and Domestic Law

JEFFREY A. GREENBERG*

Cuban baseball players face a difficult journey if they decide to play for Major League Baseball (MLB). Because of the MLB’s byzantine rules, ballplayers historically have had to defect from Cuba to a third country and declare residency before traveling to the United States. In doing so, they place themselves at the mercy of international criminal gangs and human smugglers. In 2018, the MLB and Cuban Baseball Federation reached a deal allowing teams to sign players directly from Cuba in exchange for a “release fee” paid to the Cuban federation. This Note analyzes the 2018 agreement as the culmination of a line of legal scholarship seeking to find an appropriate policy solution to the issue of ballplayer smuggling. Recognizing the Trump administration’s decision to vacate the deal, this Note then assesses the deal’s connection to the legal theory of cultural property before assessing two possible unforeseen policy maneuvers the deal may grant to the Cuban government. Finally, it engages in a normative analysis that fleshes out the contemporary political debates surrounding the agreement.

* Juris Doctor Candidate, 2020, Columbia Law School. The author wishes to thank Thomas H. Lee, Leitner Family Professor of International Law at Fordham Law School and visiting professor at Columbia Law School, for overseeing this Note, as well as the staff of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law for their contributions to the editing process. Finally, the author wishes to thank the 2003 Florida Marlins, who instilled in him a lifelong love of baseball that helped to make this Note possible.