"From the first amateur teams of the 1860s to the exploits of Livan and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, here is the history of baseball in Cuba. Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria expertly traces the arc of the game, intertwining its heroes and their stories with the politics, music, dance, and literature of the Cuban people. What emerges is more than a story of balls and strikes; it is a richly detailed history of Cuba told from the unique cultural perch of the baseball diamond."--BOOK JACKET.