The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream

In 1998, a mysterious right-handed pitcher emerged from the ashes of the Cold War and helped lead the New York Yankees to a World Championship. His origins and even his age were uncertain. His name was Orlando El Duque Hernandez. He was a fallen hero of Fidel Castro's socialist revolution. The chronicle of El Duque's triumph is at once a window into the slow death of Cuban socialism and one of the most remarkable sports stories of all time. Once hailed as a paragon of Castro's revolution, the finest pitcher in modern Cuban history was banned from baseball for life for allegedly plotting to defect. Instead of accepting his punishment, he fearlessly fought back, defying the Communist party authorities, vowing to pitch again, and ultimately fleeing his country in the bowels of a thirty-foot fishing boat. Here, for the first time and in astonishing detail, the secrets behind El Duque's persecution and escape are revealed. Moving from the crumbling streets of post Cold War Havana to the polarized world of exile Miami, from the deadly Florida Straits to the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, it is a story of cloak-and-dagger adventure, audacious secret plots, the pull of big money, and the historic collision of ideologies. Present throughout are the larger-than-life characters who converged at this bizarre intersection of baseball and politics: El Duque himself, Fidel Castro, the Miami sports agent Joe Cubas, the late John Cardinal O'Connor along with scouts, smugglers, and the Cuban ballplayers who gave up their lives as tools of socialism to test the free market and chase their major-league dreams. Reported in the United States and Cuba by two award-winning journalists who became part of the story they were covering, The Duke of Havana is a riveting saga of sports, politics, liberation, and greed.

Sports & Outdoors

Fainaru, Steve

Sanchez, Ray

Baseball

Villard

Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream

Diane Pub Co.

Biographies & Memoirs

Random House Publishing Group

Such past and former El Pasoans who went on to gain local and national fame such as Lee Trevino, Don Maynard, Margaret Osborne duPont, Don Haskins, Bill Shoemaker and many others are profiled in this informative and history-laden book.

El Pasos Greatest Sports Heroes I Have Known

Sanchez, Helen

Miscellaneous

Mesa Pub Corp

Texas Western College, then a small and uknown school tucked away in the far corner of West Texas, came out of nowhere to pull the biggest upset in the history of college basketball in 1966. The Miners' victory over University of Kentucky, coached by legendary Adolph Rupp, in the finals of the NCAA Tournament was a story of triumph of character and heart over hardship and seemingly impossible odds. The victory also had a big impact on socity. For the first time, five blacks started in the finals of the NCAA Tournament. The victory overcame many prejudices against the ability of black athletes to function in a team concept and opened doors for them throughout the South.

Basketball's Biggest Upset: Texas Western Changed the Sport With Win over Kentucky in 1966

Basketball

The history of sports at University of Texas at El Paso since its inception in 1914. The book details the ups and downs of the school and includes performances of such nationally-known present and former athletes as Nate Archibald, Jesse Whittenton, Don Maynard, Seth Joyner, Greg Foster and many others.

The Miners, the History of Sports at University of Texas at El Paso

Ingram, Bob

Mesa Publishing Corporation

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Books by Sanchez, Ray