A Venezuelan company named Hablemos de Beisbol Magazine and Foundation, run by Omar Gelvis (@Omarcito13 on Twitter), coordinated a Baseball All Star Fan Fest comprising modern Major League Baseball players, retired Hall of Famers, and baseball legends in Maracaibo from December 12-16, 2011. The event received a great deal of press in Venezuela. Autograph tickets were sold and a celebrity softball game occurred where more tickets were sold. However, according to attorney/player agent Dan Rosquete of Boston Sports Counsel, the players involved in the event were taken advantage of and not compensated properly for their participation in the events.
Several baseball legends were invited and contracted to attend, but Rosquete alleges that the poor organization by Gelvis led to many of the players backing out. Former players anticipated to attend included Gaylord Perry, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey Sr, Ferguson Jenkins and several others. Rosquete says that unfortunately, several players stayed true to their word and went to the event only to be subjected to continual lies, deception, and eventually nonpayment of their appearance fees and costs associated with flying to Venezuela. These players include Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, and Juan Marichal.
As a result of these events and aside from the mental stress that was caused, the aforementioned Dan Rosquete has been retained to represent these players against Hablemos de Beisbol in hopes of recouping some of the players’ losses and appearance fees. Rosquete has also retained the help of a local attorney in Venezuela to aid him in the civil breach of contract case, which Rosquete believes may in turn become a criminal case as well.
