In a must-read feature for Yahoo! Sports, Jeff Passan reveals the details of one of Yasiel Puig’s many unsuccessful attempts to defect from Cuba before he landed safely on Mexican soil in June, 2012.
Wearing a “a raggedy shirt, shorts and flip-flops,” Puig was on a boat intercepted by a U.S. Coast Guard vessel. He and his traveling companions were taken on board and sheltered until they were returned to Cuba. There, Puig caught the interest of an interpreter named Carlos Torres.
Life as a migrant on a cutter is not glamorous. Because the Coast Guard never knows how many boats it may interdict on any mission, there are no rooms for migrants. Puig and his party spent 24 hours a day outside on a deck with a tarp to shade them from the sun and one wool blanket to keep them warm. They had access to bathrooms, enough water to keep them from dehydrating and three meals a day, almost always rice and beans. In addition to the older man, Puig traveled with a woman to whom he seemed particularly close and a handful of other friends. One was sick and didn’t have much of an appetite. Puig got the extra food. Nobody wanted their 6-foot-3, 245-pound meal ticket to wither away….
Puig asked about life in the United States, whether Torres had a big house in Florida, where the Vigilant is stationed, and what life was like where the government couldn’t control its people. It was so novel to him, a 21-year-old who knew nothing else.
The whole story is beautiful and heartbreaking, a testament to Puig’s dedication and resilience. Puig’s .436 batting average in June is merely one detail in his much more interesting biography.