Cuban travel reform a home run for baseball star who defected

Havana, Cuba (CNN)—The baseball field looks like any other where people flock to play pickup games in Cuba on the weekends.

A few blocks from the blindingly turquoise ocean, players hustle to close out innings in between slugs of Cristal beer.

But this game was different from any other being played.

It’s not just that legends of the Cuban leagues arrived throughout the morning to play on this dusty field on the outskirts of Havana. No one in the small crowd that formed even looked at them.

Instead, all eyes are on the player who should not be there: Jose Ariel Contreras.