Tale of Two Teams: Moler Gets a Taste of the Good, Bad : Baseball: Catcher, a former Titan standout, experiences the oppression in Cuba and royal treatment the U.S. national team receives.

Through all of the 5 a.m. wake-up calls, airport layovers, meals on the run and the city-a-day, game-a-night pace of Team USA’s pre-Olympic baseball tour, Jason Moler managed to absorb a little cultural education.

Most of it came during the four days the team spent in Cuba last week. Moler knew baseball was big on this island nation, where people live under the tight-fisted reign of Fidel Castro, but it wasn’t until Team USA played its first of three games in the city of Holguin that Moler realized just how big.

Tuesday’s game against Cuba began at 8:30 p.m., but when the U.S. team arrived for practice at 10 a.m., there were already 5,000 people in the stands.

By 1 p.m., there were 20,000 fans, and by 5 p.m., the 35,000-seat stadium was full--aisles and all--and the gates were closed. By game time, there were thousands more outside the stadium, listening to the action during Cuba’s 16-1 victory.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Moler, a catcher who helped Cal State Fullerton reach the College World Series championship game in June. “They were going nuts, even in practice, whenever we did something. They had a band going and everyone was dancing. It was definitely different.”

After spending a few more days in Cuba, talking to players and anyone else who would speak to him at the hotel, Moler discovered why. For Cubans, baseball was a respite from the oppression of everyday life.

“There wasn’t a lot of food, and there was no freedom,” Moler said. “There were cops everywhere in the hotel, you couldn’t bring anyone in or leave. The people there seemed real scared. They wouldn’t talk to us. Some said they would go to jail if they were seen talking to us. They never told us why.”

What little food there was, the U.S. players had as difficult a time deciphering it as digesting it.

“We didn’t know what the meals were for sure--it was usually some kind of meat, and if it was cooked we ate it,” Moler said. “There was a lot of rice and kidney beans, and you couldn’t drink anything except bottled, carbonated water. The ice cream was good, but that’s about it.”

Moler said the team’s hotel was something you’d expect to see in the 1940s, but the Cuban players were certainly up to date. Victor Mesa hit three homers that night for Cuba, which won two of three games over Team USA in Cuba and beat them again Saturday night in Denver. Team USA beat Cuba, 3-0, Sunday night in Minneapolis.

Moler said several of the Cubans could easily play in the major leagues, where they would earn astronomical wages compared to their present earnings.

“I talked to some of their players, and one made $10 a month as a physical education teacher and one made $4 a month as a farmer,” Moler said. “I told them they could be making millions of dollars in the U.S., and they said, ‘Yeah, but I have a wife and kids and can’t leave.’ It doesn’t really bother them because that’s the way they grew up. But at least they’re treated like heroes in their country.”

Moler and his teammates have been treated like kings in theirs. Since Moler, a fourth-round draft pick who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, arrived June 9 at the Team USA national training center in Millington, Tenn., it’s been first class all the way.

“We don’t even touch our bags when we travel--it’s kind of ridiculous,” Moler said. “They’ve given us everything--sweats, gloves, batting gloves, sunglasses, shoes. You name it, we’re getting it. And the meals in the host cities on the tour have been great.”

Moler only hopes the royal treatment continues for him until the Olympics begin in Barcelona later this month. Three catchers--Moler, Miami’s Charles Johnson and Georgia Tech’s Jason Varitek--are currently among the 25 players on the roster, but Coach Ron Fraser (of Miami) said one will likely be cut when the team is trimmed to 20, perhaps as early as this weekend.

Moler has not been tearing the cover off the ball offensively--he’s batting .237 (nine for 38) with four doubles, a triple, one homer (an upper-deck blast in St. Louis’ Busch Stadium) and seven RBIs for the team, which is 13-6 on its 35-day, 30-game tour. Varitek has played the least of the three catchers and is batting .222 (four for 18).

Moler’s versatility--he has replaced UCLA’s Ryan McGuire at first base against left-handed pitchers and also played some at designated hitter--will work to his advantage.

“Johnson (a first-round pick of the Florida Marlins) is the best defensive catcher, but he’s not a lock,” Fraser said. “Jason is a hard-nosed guy, and he and Varitek are doing well, but Jason’s versatility adds something to it. He hasn’t been hitting as well as we’d like, but a few people are in that category.”

Fraser saw plenty of Moler at the College World Series. The Hurricanes and Titans met three times in the Series, with Fullerton beating Miami twice to earn a berth in the title game.

An extremely fulfilling season--the Titans had several internal problems late in the year but jelled during the regionals and Series--ended on a sour note, as Fullerton lost to Pepperdine, 3-2, June 6.

But even if Fullerton had capped the season with a national championship, Moler said the aftermath would have been just as difficult to cope with.

“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” said Moler, who batted .363 with 27 doubles, eight homers and 62 RBIs for the 46-17 Titans. “Guys got along all year but there was no sense of team pride. But by the end of the year, the team was so close and had gone through so much, no one wanted it to end. Even if we won the thing, it would have been a sad day because it was over.”

Moler and Titan third baseman Phil Nevin, another Team USA member, didn’t have much time to dwell on the loss. They returned home for one day before heading to Millington.

But it didn’t take long for Moler, a former Esperanza High standout who played two seasons at Illinois before transferring to Fullerton, to develop a sense of pride in his new team. “It doesn’t really hit you until you sit down and think about what it means,” Moler said of the significance of representing his country. “The first day I put the uniform on, I thought about how I went to games in the 1984 Olympics, looked at those players and went, ‘Wow!’

“It was kind of weird seeing ‘USA’ on my chest. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. When they played our national anthem in Cuba, I got goose bumps.”

And it wasn’t because of something he ate.