Castro's Curveball (Paperback)

~ (Author) "My first mistake in Havana was trying to score from second base on Sammy Dion's weak single to right field..." (more)
Key Phrases: Papa Joe, Malena Fonseca, Billy Bryan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Everybody has a past; some are more intriguing than others. When retired schoolteacher Billy Bryan's daughter begins cleaning his house a few days after his wife's death, she finds in the forgotten pages of his dusty scrapbook part of a past she's never known. The memories they invoke send the grieving Billy--"I think God has fed me a breaking ball to keep me off balance"--and his daughter on a remarkable journey back to his youth, where, as a major-league hopeful, he played winter baseball in Cuba half a century ago. It was there that his life changed when he crossed paths with a young student radical with a dynamite curve and a revolutionary's fire named Fidel Castro.

Wendel's lustrous prose and imaginative storytelling paint a vivid portrait of a life not just lived, but inhaled against a backdrop of a nation mad for baseball and not far from political and social upheaval. Having caught Castro's extraordinarily feathery curveball in an exhibition, Billy befriends the future leader, falling under his charismatic spell and enormous dreams for a new nation. Billy also falls, deeply, for a beautiful Cuban photographer who is so caught by Castro's visions that destiny deems the strands of their lives can never twine. "Castro was a hurricane unto himself," Billy recalls. "When I first met him, that side of him seemed refreshing, almost funny in a strange way." But the closer he got to Cuba's future leader, the more that would change. Just how much--and at what personal cost--is the secret that Billy, now an old man on a return trip to his past, must confront as if it were a fastball down the heart of his life, and make his peace with it at last. --Jeff Silverman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In a touch of iconoclastic ingenuity, Wendel builds on evidence of the youthful Fidel Castro's athletic prowess and pitching ability to construct an outstanding sports novel that also closely observes Cuban society and politics. In fact, he casts the Cuban dictator in what American sports lovers consider a heroic role: baseball player. The account opens in the present with septuagenarian Billy Bryan and his daughter, Cassy, arriving surreptitiously on the island. The trip is inspired by Cassy's discovery of a 1947 photo that shows her father, then an aging winter leaguer, in a friendly pose with a youthful Fidel. Flashbacks return Billy to the halcyon days of prerevolutionary Havana, when nightclubs, casinos, mobsters, prostitutes, secret police and baseball thrived in a nation on the brink of upheaval. Billy recalls his last season with the Havana Lions, and also his love affair with the beautiful Malena Fonseca, photographer of the revolution and friend to Castro. In possession of a phenomenal bender that flummoxes the best hitters, Castro has a future in the game that Billy himself, sadly, does not, and Billy is commissioned to sign and seal the promising star for the Washington Senators. Wendel's knowledge of baseball?the jargon, the players?enlivens the novel with some of the best game-action sequences in fiction. (The players' conversation, alas, lacks the casual profanity endemic to the sport, and thus is less credible than it might be.) Wendel also has a demonstrable feeling for Havana, then and now, and an understanding of the revolution and what it meant to both its leaders and its once hopeful, now hapless adherents. The love story, however, is a little too pat, focusing more on steamy looks, silly spats and lightweight sex than on powerful emotion. Castro comes off as an egocentric but not entirely bad fellow. But USA Today Baseball Weekly journalist Wendel (Going for the Gold) writes smooth, sometimes elegant prose, and his portrait of Cuba is multifaceted and intriguing. (Feb.) FYI: In an author's note, Wendel provides background about the youthful Castro's athletic prowess and his pitching ability.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803259573
• ISBN-13: 978-0803259577
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,142,769 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even the casual baseball fan will enjoy it., September 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Castro's Curveball (Hardcover)

Tim Wendel is an excellent writer. I am not a baseball fanatic, but I certainly had more of an appreciation for the game after reading this well written, intriguing book. The writer's passion for baseball oozes out of every page. He also gives the reader an interesting tour of Cuba --its culture, history, politics, landscape and love of baseball. The whole premise of the book is creative and imaginative. Wendel is successful in making the reader believe that Fidel Castro really did had a wicked curveball that could have landed him in a major league baseball career if he hadn't been such a die-hard revolutionary. It was interesting to see an author tackle the challenge of writing a book of fiction about a current political figure like Fidel Castro. I will closely follow Tim Wendel's writing career and will be eager to read his next book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A game, a revolutionary, a nation changed, January 22, 2000

By	Tony Peduto (Vienna, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Castro's Curveball (Hardcover)

Wendel captures Cuba at its crossroads - the Carribean Las Vegas about to become a third world nation, frozen in time.

The story line is one of hope - the hope of a career minor leaguer trying to make it to the bigs, as well as the hope of a revolutionary trying to change a country. Both characters brought together by the love of the game of baseball.

Wendel captures the struggle of each, complete in the knowledge that a price has to be paid before the goal is ever, if ever, attained. The minor leaguer paying the price of having to play winter ball to improve; the revolutionary paying the price of having to gain momemtum from true grass roots politics.

Wendel is masterful at showing how the love of baseball can bring together radically different people in a peaceful setting, and afterwards, just as at games today, everyone goes their own ways, each with a different opinion of what was the best thing about what happened that day at the ballpark.

A great book that showed me why a person like Castro, so villified today, could reach out and gain the love and trust of his fellow countrymen.

I recommend the book highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits it out of the Park!, October 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Castro's Curveball (Paperback)

I found Castros' Curveball a wonderful ride through an amazing journey. Whether you are a history buff, a romantic, a sports fan or just an avid reader, there is a strong enough story to keep those pages turning. Tim Wendell should be comended for bringing these characters to life. I found myself wordering throughout the book -- is this fact or fiction?

I HIGHLY recommend it. An excellent Bookclub selection!