Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: During the baseball season, I really enjoy attending the Asheville Tourists baseball games. One of the things I find interesting is the number of players from other countries that are trying to work their way up to the Major League. Recently, Donald Trump eliminated travel from a variety of countries and severely restricted travel from other countries. According to the program pamphlet that is available on game day, the Tourists have three players from Venezuela and three players from Cuba. How are these restrictions impacting their ability to play and or stay in the United States? Are there any complications of significance? What would happen if they returned home for a visit? I’m assuming that family members are restricted from coming to Asheville to watch them play. Has there been any contact between the federal government and the Tourists management regarding any new rules or limitations placed on the players?

My answer: What could be more American these days than apple pie, eating a ballpark hotdog and watching a few players get deported? Yeah, we live in dark times.

Real answer: Not surprisingly, the Asheville Tourists were not super-chatty on this one.

“All player travel and visas are handled by Major League Baseball and the Astros,” Tourists president and owner Brian DeWine told me via email. The Tourists are a farm team of the Houston Astros.

The team’s roster changes frequently as players move up and down in the Minor League system. They currently have 13 players from five foreign countries, including from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba and Colombia. (Below you’ll see images of six of the foreign-born players who have been with the team this season.)

Major League Baseball also didn’t answer my reader’s questions but rather sent some information along on background.

A June 6 CNN Sports article seems to answer the questions, though. It states under the subhead, “Professional athletes already in the US not affected: Athletes already in the US, such as the many Venezuelans and Cubans who play in Major League Baseball, are exempted from the travel ban.

When asked about these athletes, the White House pointed toward the section of the proclamation that states ‘no immigrant or nonimmigrant visa issued before the applicable effective date of this proclamation shall be revoked pursuant to this proclamation.’ Many foreign athletes who play in the United States do so under the P-1A visa and those are valid for five years.”

So it looks like these players are safe here, and that’s a good thing because there are a lot of them. Major League Baseball’s media department sent along a press release that noted the opening day rosters of MLB teams featured 265 internationally born players, which means 27.8 percent of MLB players are born outside the U.S., spanning 18 countries and territories.

I found this nugget interesting:

“For the fifth consecutive season, the Houston Astros have the most internationally born players with a total of 16 on their roster, and they are joined this season by the Padres atop the leaderboard,” the release states. “The two clubs are followed by the Braves (14), New York Mets (13), Baltimore Orioles (12), Miami Marlins (12), Philadelphia Phillies (11), Seattle Mariners (11), Cleveland Guardians (10), Los Angeles Dodgers (10), New York Yankees (10) and Tampa Bay Rays (10).”

The Dominican Republic, as it has since 1995, “leads the Major Leagues among countries and territories outside the United States with 100 players,” MLB said. “Venezuela ranks second with 63 players, while Cuba places third with a record 26 players, surpassing the previous high of 23 in 2016, 2017 and 2022.”

Puerto Rico had 16 players in the majors, Canada 13, Japan 12, and Mexico 11.

MLB’s media team did send me a nice list of Minor League players by country, which I found fascinating, in part because of the total number of 3,836 players, 2,547 are from the United States, but a whopping 503 are from the Dominican Republic (13.1 percent of the total) and 401 are from Venezuela (10.4 percent). (Note: MLB lists both countries and U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico.)

Those hockey-loving Canadians also produced 64 Minor Leaguers. Not bad, eh?

Question: I’m a summer resident of Asheville and for years have looked forward to walking my dog on the many trails in and around the city. This past week we strolled along the French Broad River trail down from the New Belgium Brewery, and as I looked at the poor brown waters of the French Broad, a concern came to mind. It was obvious that the trail was scraped clean of mud from the river during the storm and piled on either side of the walkway. When my dog started sniffing the edges of the trail I wondered if the mud was still toxic? I know the river still is, but can you find out if the remains of the mud along the trail are safe for my dog to sniff?

My answer: Considering the things I’ve seen my basset hounds consume on walks over the years before I can catch them in the act — dead animals, rabbit poop, mushed down Halloween candy, fast food wrappers and a possibly still live frog (it wasn’t by the end), I think a little river mud probably would be the least of their worries.

Real answer: In this case, the mud is probably safer than you think.

“The river and sediment samples we took after the storm showed the water and sediment had very few toxic chemicals, and what we did find were at low levels,” Hartwell Carson, clean waters director at the Asheville-based environmental nonprofit MountainTrue, told me via email. “There isn’t any evidence to support the sediment being toxic, and our weekly Swim Guide samples are showing similar results to previous years.”

Back in December I wrote about MountainTrue’s testing water and sediment samples from around the French Broad Watershed. 

As I noted in mid-May, the French Broad River is in surprisingly good shape this year for recreational use, although issues do remain with debris that may be buried in places. Also, the river and some of its tributaries are well known for high levels of e. Coli, a type of bacteria that can cause infections in your gut, urinary tract and other body parts.

So you still want to avoid the river if you have open cuts or wounds, and it’s probably a good idea to wear river shoes in and around the water.

But overall, you and your pooch should not notice any major health concerns from the river sediment.

“Myself and my dog have enjoyed many good walks down the greenway, and paddles down the river, since the storm, so enjoy!” Carson said.

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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/

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