The Cuban Prospect

by Brian Shawver

With disarming intensity, humor, and great heart, Brian Shawver tells the story of Dennis Birch, a washed up thirty-four-year-old failed ball player turned minor league scout whose field of dreams has always been baseball. No longer a candidate for baseball greatness himself―if he ever was―Dennis accepts the challenge of smuggling a hot left-handed pitcher out of Cuba in the hope that promoting the greatness of another will somehow confer a small, manageable portion of it on himself. A novel of last-ditch hopes, destiny’s curve balls, and quiet redemption, The Cuban Prospect projects a vision at once humorous, harrowing, and affirming.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Literary Fiction

275 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brian Shawver presents the hidden world of Latin American baseball and its impact on the U.S. game. Quickly turning into a tale of intrigue as a young baseball scout tries to spirit a pitching phenom out of Castro's Cuba, this book peeks into the underworld of America's game. The book will appeal both to sports fans and spy enthusiasts.

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to read a baseball book every spring, and this one had sat on my shelf for several years, unread. It's a lot more novel than baseball book. It's a good novel, and reads really quickly. But I also think it's a read-once affair. Nothing wrong with that!

[Kent M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great concept poorly executed. I could not have stomached even one more bad baseball analogy.