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Peter C. Bjarkman
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Cuba's Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story Kindle Edition

by Peter Costa Bjarkman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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“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
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  1. Print length
    481 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Stackpole Books
  4. Publication date
    June 14, 2023
  5. File size
    3.2 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Peter Bjarkman is the only authoritative commentator on baseball in post-revolution Cuba. Cuba’s Baseball Defectors combines scholarship and the author’s insights gained from his close personal ties to Cuban players, officials, and ordinary Cubans. Defectors is not only a great book about Cuban baseball, but an important book about contemporary Cuba. -- Kit Krieger, Cubaball Tours

Cuba’s Baseball Defectors is a detailed account of the hundreds of players that have left the island over the past quarter century and decimated the country’s powerhouse national teams. But more important, it is an up-to-date narrative of the role baseball plays in the new political dynamics between the United States and Cuba. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in contemporary Cuba. -- Milton Jamail, author of Full Count: Inside Cuban Baseball

As usual, Peter Bjarkman is the go-to guy for the best information about all things baseball cubano. He has seen these players long before most of us ever heard their names. This is a fabulous read! -- Eric Nadel, award-winning radio announcer for the Texas Rangers

Daring, honest, exceptional… Peter C. Bjarkman has written a must-read primer for anyone considering the truth behind Cuban baseball’s impact on Major League Baseball. Read this book and learn from one of the best. -- Ray Otero-Alonso, director of BaseballdeCuba.com

When Peter Bjarkman writes about Cuban baseball it is always a 'must read.' One may agree or disagree with his premises, but his decades of study and presence in the stadiums of Cuba confer on him a knowledge about this subject that cannot be denied, one born from his first-hand knowledge and closeness to his subject. (translated from the original Spanish) ― el Nuevo Herald

From a baseball standpoint, Bjarkman convincingly illustrates the one-sided nature through which MLB executives imagine total US control over Cuban labor and consumer markets in the development of academies, exhibitions, memorabilia, and television broadcast rights....

About the Author

Peter C. Bjarkman is the senior writer for www.BaseballdeCuba.com, the leading source in Spanish and English for current Cuban League and Cuban national team coverage. He is the author of A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006 (2007) and coauthor of Smoke, the Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball (1999, with Mark Rucker). Bjarkman has made numerous media appearances as an expert on Cuban baseball, including a featured role as Anthony Bourdain’s guide to island baseball on the 2011 Travel Channel episode “No Reservations Cuba.” He appears as a featured head on ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary, “Brothers in Exile” and has appeared several times on the popular ESPN feature “Outside the Lines.” Bjarkman was a recipient of the Society for American Baseball Research's 2017 Henry Chadwick Award, established to honor the game's great researchers.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01CTFCSAS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stackpole Books (June 14, 2023)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 14, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.2 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 481 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

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Peter C. Bjarkman

Peter C. Bjarkman

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Peter Bjarkman (1941–2018) is widely recognized as a leading authority on Cuban baseball, both pre- and post-revolution. He covered the Cuban League and the Cuban national team for the popular website www.BaseballdeCuba.com, from 2007 until his death in fall 2018, and traveled widely with the Cuban national team to international tournaments over the past 18 years. His recent book, CUBA'S BASEBALL DEFECTORS: THE INSIDE STORY (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), won a SABR Baseball Research Award. His volume entitled A HISTORY OF CUBAN BASEBALL, 1864-2006 (McFarland, 2007/2014) is also universally considered the seminal work on the history of the island nation's national pastime. His 1994 book BASEBALL WITH A LATIN BEAT: A HISTORY OF THE LATIN AMERICAN GAME (McFarland) was likewise an influential study, which La Vida Baseball's editor-in-chief Adrian Burgos recently noted "became the bible for many young Latino writers, broadcasters, and historians" (https://www.lavidabaseball.com/peter-bjarkman/). Bjarkman was featured with Anthony Bourdain on "No Reservations Cuba" (The Travel Channel, 2011), appeared in the ESPN "30 for 30" documentary "Brothers in Exile" (November 2014) and in the MLB Network documentary film "Cuba: Island of Baseball" (December 2016), and has been profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal (November 9, 2010). The author's work can also be found at www.Bjarkman.com (his official Authors Guild Website) as well as at www.BaseballdeCuba.com (where he served as Senior Baseball Writer and Columnist). His new book, FIDEL CASTRO AND BASEBALL: THE UNTOLD STORY (Rowman & Littlefield), published posthumously in December 2018, explores the reality of Castro's impact on Cuban baseball and insightfully unpacks the lore surrounding this controversial figure.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • MR GAWAIN DL OWEN
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book gives everyone the chance to better understand Cuban baseball and the way it operates
    Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This book gives everyone the chance to better understand Cuban baseball and the way it operates. I could not think of anyone better to write on this topic due to the amount of time Pete has spent in Cuba and the connections/trust he has built over the years.
    A must read for anyone interested in Cuban baseball
    One person found this helpful
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  • avidreader
    5.0 out of 5 stars Cuba Baseball
    Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    An interesting read but not an easy one. There is a lot of information here and you will need several days to get through the book. Is the bad situation the fault of the US? Cuba? MLB? Now you will have a more informed opinion and understanding
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Roberto Mesa
    1.0 out of 5 stars Communist Propaganda
    Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This book could have been written by the Cuban Communist Party propaganda section. They use Useful Idiots to parrot the party's propaganda.
    There were many books written in the old GDR, the communist Germany,about its " Glorious Sport Machine". These books ended in the garbage after 1989. This is were this book belongs too.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • CuJo
    5.0 out of 5 stars A very well written book, from an expert's point ...
    Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2016
    A very well written book, from an expert's point of view of Cuban baseball. He does not sugar-coat the problems in Cuba or the way MLB and the US press view Cuban players and the country as a whole.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for those interested in Cuban Baseball
    Reviewed in Canada on September 7, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Peter Bjarkman, a foremost authority on Cuban Baseball, always does extensive research on his informative detailed books on Cuban Baseball. Unfortunately Peter is no longer with us.....having passed away within the past year, in Havana.
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