CUBA: Technical Aid

After Cuba’s Ambassador Luis Machado y Ortega presented his credentials to President Truman last week, reporters crowded round to ask the new envoy about Cuban sugar exports. “Cuba will give you all the sugar you need,” Machado assured them, “[but] how about some ballplayers? This is one way of sending technical assistance to the U.S.—Point Four in reverse, you know.”

The ambassador’s little diplomatic joke was not lost on Washingtonians. Since the current baseball season opened, the Washington Senators have brought up Conrado Marrero and Sandalio Consuegra from their Havana farm team of the Florida International League. The two pitchers have won nine games, helped raise the Senators to fifth place, three notches above their 1949 cellar position.