Customer Reviews

A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The importance and quality of this book is best expressed in a recent review by noted sports journalist Pete Cava, when he writes: "Like opera afacienados, fans of international baseball are passionate, but few and far between. And for any author, writing the definitive tome about Cuban baseball from its origins to the present is like taking vows of poverty.
Therefore,!felicitaciones! to Pete Bjarkman for his latest opus, "A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006", simply the most complete work on the game as it's played just ninety miles away across the Florida Straits.
Bjarkman's book is a dizzying, four-part compilation of hard-to-find material on Cuban baseball- both pre- and post-revolution. Frequently detonating myths along the way, Bjarkman explains how the game took root in Cuba; how the island became a winter hotbed during the 20th Century's first decades for Negro League stars from the U.S. like Oscar Charlseston; and how it was Cuba's amateur ballclubs (and not the winter league teams) that enthralled local fans prior to the ascent of Fidel Castro.
Paying homage to Cuba's legends, Bjarkman devotes time to Adolfo Luque ("the Original 'Pride of Havana'), Orestes Minoso ("the Cuban Comet"), Conrado Marrero and Martin Dihigo ("Baseball's Least-Known Hall of Famer"). He also writes about Cuban players of the Castro era ("The World's Best Unknown Players"): Omar Linares, Orestes Kindelan, Antonio Pacheco, Norge Luis Vera, Victor "El Loco" Mesa- men who would have commanded fabulous big league contracts on the open market, but remain unfamiliar to most North American fans.
A number of tomes on Cuban baseball have appeared over the past decade, written by notables like S.L. Price, Milton Jamail, and Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria. Bjarkman alternately praises and scolds each of them throughout his book. Since he probably spends more time in Havana than Castro and may know more about Cuban baseball than "El Comandante" himself, Bjarkman's criticism can't be shrugged off.
Bjarkman buries once and for all the notion that Fidel was once a pitching prospect (while Castro was a schoolboy athlete in the 1940's, baseball wasn't even his best sport). Bjarkman also puts to rest any notion that Cuba's baseball tradition, like so many Cuban citizens, fled the island after Castro's rise to power.
Istead, Bjarkman argues that the sport reached its zenith during the Castro years- a theory that's bound to act as a lightning rod for criticism. But anyone who claims Bjarkman is soft on Castro's regime ultimately has to concede that this book isn't about Cuba's government; it's about Cuban baseball. And while many readers would disagree with what Bjarkman calls America's "blatant imperialistic policies", few would disagree when he acknowledges Havana's use of baseball as a propaganda tool. (Bjarkman's depiction of Castro's micro-managing of the Cuban national team would have George Steinrenner shaking his head and clucking his tongue).
"A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006" explores baseball to its roots. It provides statistics, records, standings and other nuggets previously found only in the official Cuban league guides. And if there's any disparity, it's best to go with whatever Bjarkman says.

Why does Mr Bjarkman write five star reviews on his own books?

Some people may accuse Mr Bjarkman of being vain. I've noticed this on many of his works on Amazon.com, particularly when people write unfavourable reviews. He is then quick to tack on a five star review of his own. A professional Historian or Author wouldn't respond to criticism this way.

However, Mr Bjarkman has put together a satisfactory history with this book. A reason why this history is competent is because of the extensive domination Cuba has had, particularly on amateur world baseball, and this is a form of baseball that is too often overshadowed by professional domestic baseball leagues around the world.

Nicholas R.W. Henning - Australian Baseball Author

I have read Mr. Bjarkman's other books on Cuban baseball and this one is the crowning touch. It not only traces the history of Cuban baseball back to its roots but it also follows the nuances of the game through the years in the evolvement of the Cuban game, both pre and post revolution.

Bjarkman;s objectivity will probably run afoul of the Cuban bureacracy in some areas, but no one can argue his resolute following of detail in stating the facts of Cuban baseball.

It is not easy to eliminate references to the political system of Cuba when it is so closely entwined with baseball, but Bjarkman succeeds in telling history devoid of politics. Anyone's statements to the contrary merely show their lack of knowledge: both of Cuban baseball and Cuban history.

This is a must read for those interested in baseball in Latin America and its original, and continuing, hotbed - Cuba.

Ten years in the works, this is "the complete and definitive" history of Cuban baseball, the most balanced and exhaustive of a number of fine books on baseball's best alternative universe. But unlike earlier histories, this one is the first to thoroughly document and demonstrate that baseball indeed did not flee the "Pearl of the Caribbean" in January 1959 when Fidel Castro arrived on the scene. It was only in the early 1960s that the most important chapter of Cuban baseball actually began and that, for the first time, Cuba could boast a truly national baseball.

The book is jammed with historical detail, season-by-season summaries of both the pre-1961 pro league in Havana and post-1962 amateur league across the island, precise details of all Cuban national team appearances in top international tournaments, profiles of the top Cuban League and national team stars of the past forty-plus years, career league stats for every member of the Cuban national team (1962-2006), and the true story of the mythical pitching career of Maximum Leader Fidel Castro. Hundreds of photos and stats. As Kevin Baxter of the MIAMI HERALD has observed, the statistics alone here are priceless.

Here is what LIBRARY JOURNAL (February 1, 2007) had to say in their Spring 2007 Baseball Literature preview:

"Bjarkman (Baseball with a Latin Beat) delivers the definitive work on Cuban baseball. He looks at four Cuban legends--Martin Dihigo, Adolfo Luque, Orestes "Minnie" Minoso, and Conrado Marrero--before covering Cuba's baseball teams during both the prerevolutionary and Castro eras. He discusses Havana's place as the "amateur baseball capital of the world" and also explores myths surrounding Castro as a ballplayer, as well as such figures as Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. With useful appendixes and statistics. For all baseball collections."

This book is another Pro-Castro pamphlet.It is the same old misinformation told over and over again by the INDER,the goverment baseball department. The same old distortion of cuban history and cuban present reality,this time about baseball history and told by a pro-Castro american for the american public,as part of an all out propaganda effort to influence public opinion about the sanctions against the totalitarian goverment in Cuba. It is an effort to have the sanctions lifted and have the american taxpayers pick up the tab for Cuba's bankrupt economy as the old USSR did from 1961 to 1991 at a price of 4 billions a year.
This "comprehensive" history book does not give any of the more than 100 players who have defected the opportunity to tell their side of the story. The reasons behind their defections, how they escape,the repercussions back in Cuba, how the are followed by cuban security,even to the restroom,when they visit another country.
Mr.Bjarkman sweeps under the rug that cuban players do not have the FREEDOM to choose where they want to play, live and return home ,and make as much money as their talent let them,if that is what they want.Just like,David Ortiz,Johan Santana,Angel Pujol,Miguel Cabrera Ichiro Suzuki,and everybody else.
It is a fact that cuban players live in an apartaid society, and like the rest of any other cuban citizen,they are not allowed to stay in the same hotels nor eat in the same restaurants that foreigners like Mr. Bjarkman himself stay and eat.Does he think they like that?
The Castro era baseball will be seen by real historians the same way the achivements of the Soviet era and East German Olympic athlets are seen today a sad chapter in the history of those nations.