Frederich Cepeda Quotes (20 Quotes)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Santana did what he does best, he's a good pitcher and we were waiting for him to come back out. But then he was finished, he was taken out. They decided to take him out, but he had control over the way he was pitching.

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.

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.

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.

This is the greatest victory in the history of Cuban baseball because our opponents were 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 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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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