President Barack Obama plans to attend a Rays game in Havana, Cuba, on March 22, Major League Baseball announced in a tweet Tuesday night.
Obama retweeted, adding the comment, “Play ball!”
Play ball! https://t.co/S4DhVYa4Ef
— President Obama (@POTUS) March 2, 2016
The Rays are set to play Cuba’s national team, the first trip MLB has made to the country since the Baltimore Orioles played there in 1999.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says "during a time of historic change, we appreciate the constructive role afforded by our shared passion for the game, and we look forward to experiencing Cuba's storied baseball tradition and the passion of its many loyal fans."
Manfred drew the Rays on Nov. 13 from a bin of teams that wanted to make the trip. U.S. teams played spring training games in Cuba before Fidel Castro's revolution but none appeared there from March 1959 until the Orioles faced Cuba's national team in Havana in March 1999.
Hundreds of workers were at the Latin America Stadium, built in 1946 and said to have a seating capacity of 55,000. They are fixing the roof, repairing damaged seating areas and grooming the field surface.
Workers with jackhammers broke up damaged pavement outside, and painters brightened the stadium exterior.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
