On August 27, 2011, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News wrote a story titled; It appears MLB finally will pay Connie Marrero the pension he’s owed.
In Mr. Madden’s story he writes the following; three weeks ago the Daily News reported that Marrero, at age 100, the oldest former major-league player, was residing in near-poverty on a $125-a-month government stipend, sharing a small two-bedroom apartment with a five other relatives in his native Havana, Cuba. Though he is nearly blind now and confined to a chair and a bed due to a recent broken hip, Marrero’s mind remains sharp and he keeps up with baseball by listening to games on the radio. Initially, it was believed that Marrero, a legend in Cuba, was one of the 900 or so former players who didn’t have enough service time to qualify for the baseball pension, worth approximately $10,000 annually in an agreement reached earlier this year between MLB and the Players Association.
However, since Marrero’s plight has been brought to light, the powers-that-be at the Players Association are on the case and, as it turns out, Marrero, who joined the majors at age 39 in 1950 and compiled a 39-40 record with mostly lowly Washington Senators teams through 1954, was actually a fully-vested five-year player in the pension plan the entire time and conceivably would have been receiving payments for the last 38 years, after he turned 62. The only problem – he never received a dime because, after his retirement, he went home to Cuba and never came back. With the enactment of the Cuban embargo in the aftermath of the Castro revolution, it became nearly impossible to transfer money from the U.S. to Cuba and Marrero, who was apparently never told he was owed a pension, was essentially “out of sight, out of mind” all these years as far as the administrators of the pension were concerned. Nobody made any effort to review his service time and pension eligibility or figure out a way to get his money to him.
Players Association executive director Michael Weiner confirmed Friday the union is working hard and fast in determining Marrero’s pension status – vowing, considering the circumstances, to get it resolved in days rather than weeks or months. Once it does, the Obama administration’s announcement in January of easing of the rules for U.S. citizens to send remittances to Cuba should help in the process of getting his money to him, especially since Marrero has a son, Orestes, living in Miami.
What is not mentioned in the story is that it was Doug Gladstone who brought it to Bill Madden’s attention that Connie Marrero should not be classified as one of the pre-’80 players who will be getting payments of up to $10K per year for the next two years. Because of Doug Gladstone’s involvement it looks like Connie Marrero may finally get what he deserves.
For those of you who read my stories may remember Doug Gladstone. Doug Gladstone is the author of the book A Bitter Cup of Coffee; How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees A Curve. On June 1, 2011, I wrote a story titled; Baseball Agreement will help old Senators. In the story I wrote about Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) made a joint announcement on April 21, 2011, stating that inactive, non-vested men who played between 1947 and 1979 will receive up to $10,000 per year, depending on their length of service credit, as compensation for their contributions to the national pastime. In the story I was lucky enough to interview Mr. Gladstone.
Yesterday I contacted Doug Gladstone again, to ask him how he felt about Connie Marrero’s situation. In his message to me he says; It’s not every day a visually and hearing impaired centenarian who has been clearly taken advantage of by MLB and the union is on the cusp of possibly receiving a onetime retroactive payment of more than $500,000.
I personally want to thank Doug Gladstone for all of his time in effort to help the hundreds of ex-ball players who fell into the group of inactive, non-vested men who played between 1947 and 1979 who were not receiving any type of pension from MLB. It is Doug Gladstone who is credited for spurring the league and union into action. I also want to thank Bill Madden for bringing this in justice to our attention.
