{"product_id":"last-seasons-in-havana-the-castro-revolution-and-the-end-of-professional-baseball-in-cuba-hardcover","title":"Last Seasons in Havana: The Castro Revolution and the End of Professional Baseball in Cuba - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eCésar Brioso\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2020 SABR Baseball Research Award \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eLast Seasons in Havana\u003c\/i\u003e explores the intersection between Cuba and America's pastime from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, when Fidel Castro overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. C sar Brioso takes the reader through the triumph of the revolution in 1959 and its impact on professional baseball in the seasons immediately following Castro's rise to power. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Baseball in pre-Castro Cuba was enjoying a golden age. The Cuban League, which had been founded in 1878, just two years after the formation of the National League, was thriving under the auspices of organized baseball. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, players from the Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and Negro Leagues had come to Cuba to play in the country's wholly integrated winter baseball league. Cuban teams had come to dominate the annual Caribbean Series tournament, and Havana had joined the highest levels of Minor League Baseball, fielding the Havana Sugar Kings of the Class AAA International League. Confidence was high that Havana might one day have a Major League team of its own. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But professional baseball became one of the many victims of Castro's Communist revolution. American players stopped participating in the Cuban League, and Cuban teams moved to an amateur, state-sponsored model. Focusing on the final three seasons of the Cuban League (1958-61) and the final two seasons of the Havana Sugar Kings (1959-60), \u003ci\u003eLast Seasons in Havana\u003c\/i\u003e explores how Castro's rise to power forever altered Cuba and the course of a sport that had become ingrained in the island's culture over the course of almost a century.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCésar Brioso \u003c\/b\u003eis a digital producer and former baseball editor for \u003ci\u003eUSA Today Sports\u003c\/i\u003e. In his twenty-five years as a sports journalist, he has written for the \u003ci\u003eMiami Herald\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eHavana Hardball: Spring Training, Jackie Robinson, and the Cuban League\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.1 x 9 x 8.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 01, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51760653107488,"sku":"9781496205513","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/849e13df666bf0cd61121c67f532cb58.webp?v=1780185951","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/last-seasons-in-havana-the-castro-revolution-and-the-end-of-professional-baseball-in-cuba-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}