Frederich Cepeda Quotations

We have played in World Cups, world championships and Olympics. The message is already out there. ... In Cuba, baseball is the No. 1 sport. People in Cuba had their doubts about us coming and about the results.

We are all amateur players, therefore playing against major league players is the greatest victory for us.

If we could win Monday, it would be the greatest victory in Cuban baseball history.

From the very beginning, we said that we were going to play baseball. The uncertainty as to whether Cuba was going to be part of it or not in baseball, as we say in Cuba, 'The ball is round.' We have done it now.

For us this was very big because everybody saw Cuba as a smaller team. They thought of the other teams, greater teams, bigger teams, powerful. They thought we could never win against Venezuela, that we did not have any possibility or any chances. And here you have it. We know how to play under pressure.

I think this Classic is historic because it demonstrated that not only the players from the paid major leagues can carry the supremacy. We've demonstrated that what matters is sacrifice, human values and the effort you give on the field.

I think the message has been delivered. Baseball is baseball in all parts of the world ? be it in the big leagues, be it amateur. You have to value baseball as such. It's not about the price of the player but the heart with which the baseball is played. Our team is a team that has fought for unity. The soul of our team is unity. There aren't any stars.

Our message is already out there from our international competitions. I think we showed people that baseball is spoken here, baseball and nothing else.

We came to play baseball. Like the slogan says, we speak baseball.

This was a wonderful event. It went beyond all expectations. Baseball can be played at a world level. Perhaps we could see each other again in two years?

What Cuba has shown to the world is not only that we could play up to par with other major leaguers. We are not professional, we are amateur. We don't get paid for doing this. We deserve a high place in baseball because we do this with sacrifice, with human value and courage and sportsmanship, and because we give our utmost in order to come to the field and show what good baseball is all about.

What Cuba has proved is that we can play up to other levels.

We tried to get back on top, but they deserve the victory because they played better.

Victory was so close, but we didn't achieve it. We'll have to learn from this loss to Japan in the next Classic. But we are very proud of this welcome that the people are giving us.

Cuba has shown the world that we have our heart in baseball. This classic is a historic event. We are not professionals. We don't get paid to play. But we ranked second, well deserved. I don't like losing. But I think we have shown a lot.

Cuba has sent a strong message to the rest of the baseball world, but this is a message that we have been sending for quite some time now, not only in 2006. Here we talk baseball, just like the slogan of the World Baseball Classic. And baseball is baseball, it doesn't matter the price paid to the athletes that play it.

This is a revolutionary team. Baseball is not judged by the price of the athletes but by the heart of the people.

This is the greatest victory in the history of Cuban baseball because our opponents were major-league players.

They have major-league players. So people know now that we can play against major-league players.

Everybody saw Cuba as a smaller team. They saw other teams as greater. Yet here we are. Nothing is impossible. You will see in the final. We're prepared for this mentally and physically.

I'm not happy because I don't like to lose, but Cuba showed that they can play anybody.

I hope the Classic remains and those responsible for eliminating baseball from the Olympic Games were able to see the great show that baseball is all about.