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66 exploitation and mistreatment in the global ballpark 66 GOING TO VIETNAM Just because Alexi had a contract with a major league team did not mean that he could relax. He continued to train with Ciro Barrios and Emilio Ostos after he signed with the Cubs. He worked hard to prepare for the Cubs’ minicamp in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, in February 1996. The minicamp would be the prelude to his trip to the United States a couple of months later. The contract and the opportunity to play his first professional season in the United States gave Alexi more than enough incentive to push himself hard in his training .1 After all, he was now a professional baseball player, with a contract and a signing bonus. Alexi was anxious to get the signing bonus, not because he wanted to run around buying expensive things, but because he had to pay Barrios $500 now that he had signed. Barrios had made clear to all the players who trained with him that any player signed by the Cubs had to pay him $500. Barrios helped Alexi get a contract with the Cubs, and Alexi wanted to fulfill his part of the bargain.2 Alexis Sr. helped Alexi pay Barrios $500,3 but Alexi needed the signing bonus check to pay back his father. When the signing bonus check finally arrived in February 1996 via Alberto Rondón, Alexi and his father were confused.4 The check was for $6,000, not the promised $4,000.5 Had the Cubs’ organization, out of the goodness of its corporate heart, increased Alexi’s signing bonus? Or was there some administrative mistake, which would mean Alexi would be unjustly enriched if he cashed the check and kept the entire amount? Alexi and his father turned to Rondón to clarify the situation.6 Rondón’s explanation had never even crossed their minds. “The extra $2,000 is for me,” Rondón told the surprised Quirozes. Now this explanation left a lot to be explained, but Alexi and his father felt awkward pressing Rondón to explain why the Cubs were paying Rondón $2,000 through Alexi’s signing bonus check. After all, Alexi did not feel entitled to the $2,000 because his contract, according to Rondón, only provided for a $4,000 CHAPTER FIVE going to vietnam 67 signing bonus. But still, Rondón’s explanation did not make any sense.7 Neither did his explanation of his explanation, which he then gave to the increasingly confused Quirozes. Rondón told Alexi and his father that the $2,000 was to cover Rondón’s expenses for Alexi to attend the upcoming Cubs’ February 1996 minicamp in Puerto Cabello.8 Rondón had expenses amounting to $2,000 relating to Alexi’s future attendance at a minicamp organized and operated by the Cubs? It was not apparent to Alexi or his father how Rondón had amassed, or would amass, expenses of $2,000 in connection with Alexi going to the minicamp.9 Did Rondón have to pay the Cubs $2,000 for Alexi to attend? Not likely, given that Rondón worked for the Cubs and that the Cubs operated the minicamp. Further , why would the Cubs reimburse one employee through another employee ’s check for expenses already borne by the organization?10 Alexi paid Rondón the $2,000 even though Rondón’s explanation made no sense. Because Alexi had only been promised $4,000, the Quirozes did not feel cheated, but the episode still made them uneasy.11 When Alexi was at the Cubs minicamp in Puerto Cabello, he asked other players whether they had to pay Rondón for expenses related to the minicamp. They had no idea what Alexi was talking about. Alexi dropped the matter to concentrate on more important things, like playing baseball.12 Only much later in the story did Alexi learn what Rondón had done. Alexi’s written contract provided for a $6,000 signing bonus, not a $4,000 one.13 When Alexi learned this after his relationship with the Cubs had deteriorated, the deception became clear. Rondón told the Cubs that he signed Alexi to a $6,000 signing bonus, which amount appeared in the contract. The written contractual provision would have been necessary for paperwork to support the Cubs’ writing the $6,000 check at the home office. Rondón set up the Quirozes by offering...

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