This book reveals the complete truth behind the wave of Cuban baseball talent coming to MLB, placing recent events in the context of Cuban baseball history before delving into the stories of the major Cuban stars who have left the island. It shares their personal histories, explains why many chose defection, and details their harrowing journeys.
Since Cuba's Esteban Bellan made his debut for the Troy Haymakers of the National Association in 1871, Latin Americans have played a large role in the major leagues. Nearly 15 percent of big league rosters are made up of Latinos, while the region's colorful and competitive winter leagues have been a proving ground for up-and-coming major league players and managers. Early Latin American stars were barred purely because of the color of their skin from playing in the major leagues. Players such as Jose Mendez and Martin Dihigo (the only player elected to the U.S., Cuban and Mexican halls of fame) made their marks on the Negro Leagues, turning the leagues' barnstorming tours into major attractions in many Caribbean countries. This history of the players and events that make up the rich tradition of Latin American baseball gives a unique insight to this long-neglected area of baseball.
The New York Mets Encyclopedia provides the full and exciting story of modern-era baseball’s most popular expansion-age franchise. From those lovable losers of 1962 and 1963, to the Miracle Mets of 1969 and 1973, and on to year-in and year-out contenders of the 1980s and 1990s, New York’s National League Mets have written some of the most exciting and colorful pages in Major League history. This is the team that captured the hearts of fans everywhere with its often-laughable antics under colorful and celebrated manager Casey Stengel. Only half a dozen years later, the Mets reached baseball’s pinnacle under gifted manager Gil Hodges. This colorful volume combines detailed narrative history with archival photographs, rich statistical data, and intimate portraits of the team’s most memorable personalities. This is also a franchise that has been home to many of the game’s biggest on-field stars. Among them are such unforgettable diamond characters as reckless slugger Darryl Strawberry; glue-fingered first sacker Keith Hernandez; baseball’s all-world catcher, Mike Piazza; pitching ace Johan Santana; and record-breaking third baseman David Wright. The full scope of the Mets’ fifty-plus-year history is discussed in an expansive chapter that gives the reader a historical detailed overview and features a year-by-year Mets chronology and season-by-season opening-day lineups. This newly revised edition offers insight on everything a Mets fan would want or need to know.
Few political figures of the modern age have been so vilified as Fidel Castro, and both the vilification and worship generated by the Cuban leader have combined to distort the true image of Castro. The baseball myths attached to Fidel have loomed every bit as large as the skewed political notions that surround him. Castro was never a major league pitching prospect, nor did he destroy the Cuban national pastime in 1962. In Fidel Castro and Baseball: The Untold Story, Peter C. Bjarkman dispels numerous myths about the Cuban leader and his association with baseball. In this groundbreaking study, Bjarkman establishes how Fidel constructed, rather than dismantled, Cuba’s true baseball Golden Age—one that followed rather than preceded the 1959 revolution. Bjarkman also demonstrates that Fidel was not at all unique in “politicizing” baseball as often maintained, since the island sport traces its roots to the 19th-century revolution. Fidel’s avowed devotion to a non-materialist society would ultimately sow the seeds of collapse for the baseball empire he built over more than a half-century, just as the same obsession would finally dismantle the larger social revolution he had painstakingly authored. A fascinating look at a controversial figure and his impact on a major sport, this volume reveals many intriguing insights about Castro and how his love of the game was tied to Cuba’s identity. Fidel Castro and Baseball will appeal to fans of the sport as well as to those interested in Cuba’s enduring association with baseball.
Reggie Miller has overcome many personal challenges to become the star guard of the NBA's Indiana Pacers as well as one of basketball's most talented one-on-one performers. He has led the Pacers in scoring throughout an entire decade, and has carried the team to three NBA Conference Finals. In this book, author Peter Bjarkman explores Miller's career and highlights his climb to true fame as one of the most prolific three-point shooters in the history of professional basketball.
A look at the life and career of Scottie Pippen, who is the NBA's best all-around small forward. He also plays guard, and has helped the Chicago Bulls win three NBA championships. He was selected to play on the U.S. Olympic Dream Team, named to the All-NBA Defensive team four times, the All-NBA team twice, and was named the professional basketball's Most Valuable Player. Having emerged from team-mate Michael Jordan's shadow, Scottie Pippen has become one of the NBA's living legends.
Sports fans as well as reluctant readers will enjoy this book detailing the careers of 10 of baseball's most daring weapons, the baseball stealers. This book covers the careers and game highlights of such great base stealers as Luis Aparicio, Lou Brock, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Rickey Henderson, Kenny Lofton, Joe Morgan, Tim Raines, Jackie Robinson, and Maury Wills.
Currently playing basketball in Europe, forward Dominique Wilkins has played for the Atlanta Hawks, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Boston Celtics. He became the ninth player in NBA history to score twenty-five thousand career points, and he possesses the league record for consecutive free throws made in one game. Known for his dazzling slam-dunking ability, Wilkins was selected to play on Dream Team II, representing the United States in the World Championships.
A biography of the baseball superstar from Puerto Rico who, before his untimely death in a 1972 airplane crash, was noted for his achievements on and off the baseball field.
* Captivating portraits that will appeal to baseball lovers of all ages * Contains thrilling accounts of pivotal games * Filled with action photographs & statistics
Author Peter Bjarkman has chosen ten basketball players whom he thinks best define the slam dunk style. Anecdotes, career statistics, and quotations of such greats as Charles Barkley, Darryl Dawkins, Clyde Drexler, Julius Erving, Darrell Griffith, Connie Hawkins, Michael Jordan, Shawn Kemp, Scottie Pippen, and Spud Webb all bring the excitement of the court to the reader.
“Takes an inside look into the wave of player departures that has rocked the game both in Cuba and the U.S., while providing historical perspective.” —USA Today The stellar play and fascinating backstories of exiled Cuban sluggers and hurlers has become part of Major League Baseball history. On-field exploits by colorful Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, AL rookie-of-the-year José Abreu, home run derby champion Yoenis Céspedes, radar-gun busting Cincinnati fast-baller Aroldis Chapman, and a handful of others have been further enhanced by feel-good tales of desperate Cuban superstars risking their lives to escape Fidel Castro’s communist realm and chase an American Dream of financial and athletic success. But a truly ugly underbelly to this story has also slowly emerged—one that involves human smuggling operations financed by Miami crime syndicates, operated by Mexican drug cartels, and conveniently ignored by ball clubs endlessly searching for fresh waves of international talent. Given rare access to Cuba and its ballplayers, Peter C. Bjarkman has spent over twenty years traveling to all corners of the island getting to know the top Cuban stars and witnessing their struggles and triumphs. In this book, Bjarkman places events in the context of Cuban baseball history and tradition before delving into the stories of the major Cuban stars who have left the island. He reveals their personal histories, explains the events that led them to defect from their homeland, and details their harrowing journeys to US shores. Players whose big-league dreams failed are also discussed, as are Cuba’s efforts to stem the defection tide through working agreements with the Japanese and Mexican leagues. Cuba’s Baseball Defectors will fascinate baseball fans, those interested in the history of US-Cuba relations, and those wanting to learn more about the unsavory story of human trafficking in the name of baseball glory. “A revelation . . . an original social history for sports enthusiasts and readers interested in past and future Cuba–U.S. ties.” —Library Journal Includes photos
This is a biography of today's most popular athlete, Shaquille O'Neal, of the Orlando Magic, who combines his size with unbeatable power to put him among the league's top scorers.
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