Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports

by S.L. Price

In an artful pastiche of observation, personal narrative, interviews, and investigative reporting, S.L. Price, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, describes sports and athletes in today's Cuba. On his journeys to the island, Price finds a country that celebrates sports like no other and a regime that uses games as both symbol and weapon in its dying revolution. He finds Olympic and world champion boxers, track stars, volleyball and baseball players, but he also finds that with Castro's revolution staggering beneath the weight of a great depression, Cuba's famed sports system is imploding. Athletes are defecting by plane and raft. Superstars bike to games and legends like boxer Teofilo Stevenson are forced to lost themselves in a bottle of rum. Beyond an examination of sports in the hothouse of revolution, Pitching Around Fidel presents a vibrant and realistic portrait of Cuba today, complete with sex-happy tourists, blackouts, Fidel's famous former lover, and a black-power fugitive wanted in the U.S. for murder and hijacking. At once a biting travelogue and a meditation on sports in both America and Cuba, Pitching Around Fidel is a valuable document about a time and place that is close to fading away.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[Mike Niebrzydowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into life in Cuba through the lens of sports. Read most of this before our trip and then finished after. The author seems to notice or recognize the tourist perspective as well as the every day life, particularly the every day life of Cuban athletes, of Havana and other parts of Cuba.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat repetitious and, of course, now out of date. A depressing portrait of the ¨special period¨

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Price is such a wonderful writer, and this book is another example of his very literary non-fiction. Very thoroughly researched book about the Cuban sports program; Price traveled to Cuba on multiple occasions to do interviews, watch games, etc. While ultimately not a glowing portrait of the Castro regime, it is nonetheless a genuine one (and one very sympathetic to ordinary Cubans), and there is no knee-jerk political tripe. The author conducts dozens of interviews, and really explores the question of why some elite Cuban athletes defect but others do not. The book also contains some very interesting anecdotes about baseball players who defect, only to ignore their Cuban wives and children after remarrying in the US.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating behind the scenes look at a part of sports we know very little about, beyond what the Cuban sport/govt. machine wants us to know. The author is very familiar with the sports scene in Florida, and by extension, Cuba. The seeming contradictions between the Cuban ideal of amateurs, playing their sports for the pure love of the game.. and the lure of the money available if they would only defect. Along the way, we learn more about life in the real Cuba.
Very well written, and relayed almost as a disappointed fan. The episode with boxer Teofilo Stevenson, still reliving his long ago Olympic heroics, are especially riveting.

[Jim Gold · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on sports figures and institutions in Cuba around the turn of the latest century. I found the book somewhat disjointed as it describes encounters with many people in many different locations, often without providing timely background information to an uninformed reader. On the other hand, it provides vivid and compelling sketches of life in Cuba under Castro. Although the American writer, who spent extended periods of time in Cuba, works for Sports Illustrated, the book to me is much more about Cuba than about sports.

A good book for anyone interested in learning more about or perhaps visiting Cuba.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Price seems to write about a land of enchantment (Cuba) thinking that he is free from it's spell, while still being captivated by its' powers. If you don't mind some strong profanity you might really enjoy this book. If you do mind, like myself, Price still does a good job of navigating the landscape of the politics surrounding Cuban sports, but you'll have to do some navigation of your own.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. A great look at Cuban sports and life.