They Have Found the Way Home

When Dana Morton saw the newspaper story about two Cuban defectors who had signed to play baseball for the hometown team, he had an idea his wife Sonia would want to take in a game.

After all, Sonia had defected from Cuba seven years earlier.

But neither figured they’d leave Rohnert Park Stadium that night with two sons for the summer.

“We were sitting in our seats when Dana saw the team owner [Bob Fletcher] and he told me to go talk to him,” Sonia Morton said. “I said, ‘Hey, I’m Cuban and I want to meet these guys.’ He said, ‘Well, do you want to take them home with you and be their host family?”’

On their first night in town as the newest members of the Sonoma County Crushers, Evel Bastida, 23, and Mayque Quintero, 22, had a new home and a surrogate family.

“I’m very happy to be here, but to be here with a Cuban is truly special,” Bastida said. “They’re really helping and I will always remember the help. It was a surprise to me . . . they want to help us in any way they can.”

Quintero said it was destiny.

“God sent her to me,” he said of Sonia Morton. “God put us on this road, and since we all understand each other as Cubans, we help each other once we get here to the United States.”

In the Morton home, Bastida and Quintero each has his own room with a view of the Rohnert Park golf course and access to a weight room and television, amenities they’re not used to after making the equivalent of $10 a month as baseball players in Cuba.

Bastida and Quintero played with Industriales of Havana, a powerhouse team that was New York Yankee right-hander Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez’s old stomping grounds. Quintero was also a member of the Cuban national team that played the Baltimore Orioles in a 1999 exhibition in Havana.

But Bastida, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound second baseman, and Quintero, a 6-21/2, 220-pound right-handed pitcher, were suspended last summer amid suspicions they were planning to defect.

They did Dec. 9, after being given less than an hour to reach the fishing boat where they joined 25 strangers for the dangerous ride to freedom.

The trip took nearly three days after the engine failed the first night, forcing the refugees to paddle the rest of the way, Quintero said.

Quintero left behind his wife, Elaine, and Bastida left his wife, Noelia, and 1-year-old twins, Kenny and Kaely. Bastida carries a framed color photograph of his baby boy and girl.

The men, who said they send money home to support their families, left because they had no other options after the suspensions.

“I played baseball since I was 9 years old and I had no other way to support my family . . . My mother-in-law helped, but I was still feeling pressure,” Bastida said. “It was painful, but it won’t be in vain. I hope to have them here soon.”

Sonia Morton, 56, can empathize. She sought political asylum in 1994, leaving behind her only daughter.

“It’s about the freedom and running away from the madman,” she said of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. She became a U.S. citizen Jan. 30 and has petitioned to bring her daughter to America, a process that could take two years.

After landing in Key West, Fla., Quintero and Bastida figured they’d quickly sign a contract with a major league team. U.S., Puerto Rican and Canadian residents are subject to the draft under major league guidelines, while residents of other countries can negotiate their own contracts with whatever team they choose.

But after a practice of generally accepting residency papers with few questions, major league baseball’s stance has grown less flexible. Frustrated, they went to play in the Mexican League and established residency there when their new agent, Gus Dominguez, helped them obtain free-agent status.

The Cubans have had tryouts and workouts in Los Angeles for a number of teams, including the Angels, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets, but no serious takers as teams wait to see the men play.

Which is why Bastida and Quintero came to the heart of Northern California’s wine country to suit up for the Crushers, who play in the independent Western Baseball League. Specifics of their contracts were not released, but the average player salary in the six-team WBL is $1,136 a month, with a maximum of $2,200 a month.

First-year Crusher Manager Tim Ireland said the relationship has been mutually beneficial.

“Independent baseball’s proven to be a spot where guys that are trying to get signed in the free-agent market can go and show people what they can do in a competitive situation,” Ireland said. “Plus . . . it’s gotten us a lot of P.R., and in our situation, you can use all the publicity you can garner.”

The attention keeps coming. Another Cuban defector, Andy Morales, last week signed a contract with the Crushers. He’ll play for them while he battles the New York Yankees over a contract dispute. The third baseman, who left Cuba in July 2000, had signed a $4.5-million, four-year contract with the Yankees on March 11 before a flap ensued that in part centers on Morales’ age. He hit only .231 with one homer and 14 RBIs in 160 at-bats with double-A Norwich.

On the night of July 12, Quintero and Bastida’s first game with the Crushers, scouts from the Dodgers and New York Yankees were in the stands. Since then, scouts from the Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics have ventured to Rohnert Park, about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco.

They want to see Quintero, who in his last season with Industriales was 11-5 with a 1.90 earned-run average. Quintero says he throws a 94-mph fastball. The left-handed hitting Bastida batted .328 in his career with Industriales and runs well. So far this season, both players have made contributions. Bastida, the starting second baseman, is hitting .224 with one home run, one triple, and nine runs batted in in 27 games. Quintero (2-1, 4.61 ERA in 271/3 innings) started three games on limited pitch counts then was moved to the bullpen. In late July, he returned to the rotation. Quintero gave up five runs and two hits and struck out seven in the Crushers’ 5-4 win on Sunday. Kevin Mitchell, the Crusher hitting coach and 1989 National League most valuable player with San Francisco, said the two Cubans have already earned their teammates’ respect.

“You’ve got to tip your cap to them, give them their props for how they got over here, for all they went through,” Mitchell said.

Crusher owner Bob Fletcher acknowledges that he may merely be renting the Cubans for a short time. “It’s the kind of story we like,” Fletcher said. “It’s a human interest story; it’s a will-he-make-it-to-the-major-leagues story; it’s an intriguing story if they’re a boost to our pennant chase. And they’re nice guys.”

They’re also Sonia Morton’s mijitos for the time being, calling her every night from the road with updates of the sights they’ve seen in such WBL outposts as Chico, Calif., and St. George, Utah.

Sonia and her husband, who is a financial investment advisor, are teaching them about American life--how to program their cellular phones, how to invest their money and how to adjust to life in a democracy.

Bastida said he is in awe of life in the United States--but there are challenges, too.

“It’s very modern, the technology and cars,” he said. “It’s also a life of much sacrifice and hard work. In Cuba, they paint the American life much different, like it’s real easy. But I came here and see you have to work hard and make sacrifices to be successful.”

Sonia Morton, who holds a graduate degree in economics from the University of Havana and works as an office manager, cooks traditional Cuban fare of pork, black beans, rice and platano to make Quintero and Bastida feel more at home.

“I feel honored to help them,” she said. “When we come from Cuba, we come with nothing. And to come here and have a helping hand, it’s like a miracle because now I have the opportunity to offer these guys a home.

“I’m their mamita here.”

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Staff Writer Valerie Gutierrez contributed to this report.