Cuba's Baseball Defectors
The Inside Story
گزارش تخلف
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
March 28, 2016
Bjarkman, the senior writer of the Baseball de Cuba website, engagingly probes the sensational influx of Cuban baseball defectors who brave everything to get those mega-buck paydays in American major-league baseball, causing a talent drain on the island. The real-life stories behind Cuban refugees’ stellar appearances in American ballparks often involve greedy big-league scouts, speedy cigarette boats, and illegal smuggling and kidnapping financed by Miami crime syndicates and operated by deadly Mexican drug cartels. Stories of baseball dynamos Aroldis Chapman, Leonys Martin, Yasiel Puig, and others are cautionary tales of betrayal, peril, desperation, and corruption as racketeers and agents shake down the naive, talented, poor youths for a share of their multimillion-dollar salaries. The writer moves the reader through a summary of Cuba’s baseball history from the first game in 1874 to the excellence in the Cuban League under Castro’s regime, a prime distraction from El Jefe’s grand social experiment. Bjarkman writes expertly of the raiding of local talent and the rapid thawing of political wills of America and Cuba, and he proclaims that the proud island “will steadfastly remain the jealous owner of its domestic baseball destiny.”
May 1, 2016
After the integration of major league baseball in 1947, Cuban ballplayers such as Minnie Minoso, Pedro Ramos, and Sandy Amoros dotted rosters throughout the National and American Leagues. Later, legends including Tony Perez, Tony Olivia, and the incomparable Luis Tiant left Cuba before the start of the country's revolution in 1953 prevented future stars from entering American baseball. Since that time, several players defected to the United States. The numbers increased as Cuba's economy declined; from 23 in 2009 to 36 in 2013, including Yasiel Puig and Aroldis Chapman. Cuban baseball, with a proud and fascinating history of its own, has suffered from these losses. Now that U.S.-Cuba relations have warmed, prospects for the game's future in the latter have seriously declined. In clear prose, Bjarkman (A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006) details the shift of Cuban stars to the major leagues at the expense of Cuban baseball. His latest book is a revelation, specifically its documentation of the often shady U.S. role in recruiting top talent. VERDICT Bjarkman presents an original social history for sports enthusiasts and readers interested in past and future Cuba-U.S. ties.--Boyd Childress, formerly with Auburn Univ. Libs., AL
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