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Castro's Cuba: The Forbidden Island

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IF ONLY HE HAD BEEN A BETTER BASEBALL PLAYER...
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...A MURAL OF "THE COMANDANTE," FIDEL CASTRO, IN THE 'OFICINA' OF HAVANA'S LATIN AMERICAN STADIUM

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To U.S. baseball fans, it's known simply as "The Forbidden Isle." But journalist Joe Connor visited this baseball hotbed for more than three weeks and was granted unprecedented access to its players, academies, sports institutes and ballparks across the country’s 14 vast provinces. And now Joe shares his insight into Cuban baseball in The World in a Ballpark: Baseball Goes Global, which is available for purchase at the Buy Joe's Guides page.

 

Cuba's talented and accomplished National Team finished second in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. We also hope you enjoy our Cuban baseball collage below where you can also access the stories Joe wrote for Major League Baseball's official Web site that were praised by fans for their insight into "Pelota," what Cubans call baseball.

  

To read the captivating five-part series Joe wrote for Major League Baseball's official Web site, mlb.com: either click the link below, or copy and paste the link below into your browser and hit enter. Important note: This link provides links to the other stories that are part of the five-part series: 

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20040126&content_id=630811&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp

A PASSION FOR PELOTA EVERY WHICH WAY YOU TURN...
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...MOST NATIONAL LEAGUE GAMES ARE TELEVISED; JOE PLAYING THE FIELD ON THE SCENIC ISLAND OF YOUTH

CUBA'S EASTERN PROVINCES LOVE TO JAM...
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...THE "CONGREGOS," AN EIGHT-PIECE BAND, FIRE UP THE LIVELY CROWD IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA

HONORING A CUBAN BASEBALL LEGEND...
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...A STATUE OF JOSE HUEGLA IN SANCTI SPIRITUS

YOUNG EL DUQUE, 1990, YEARS BEFORE DEFECTING
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ORLANDO HERNANDEZ PITCHED FOR HAVANA'S INDUSTRIALES AND THE NATIONAL TEAM

CORPORATE-NAMED BALLPARKS IN CUBA...?
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...NOT EXACTLY: ITS "SHRINES" ARE NAMED AFTER MANY "PATRIOTIC REVOLUTIONARY HEROES"

FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT...
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...TEACHING PELOTA TO A FUTURE CUBAN STAR...

COMMUNIST CASTRO ENDULGES...
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...IN A CAPITALIST COKE (AND A SMILE)

WHAT PASSES AS A NEWSPAPER IN CUBA, CASTRO STYLE
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BARELY MORE THAN EIGHT PAGES IN LENGTH, DUE TO FREQUENT PAPER SHORTAGES ON THE ISLAND

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