I’ve recently been reading Peter Bjarkman’s History of Cuban Baseball, 1984-2006. My favorite chapters are the ones on Castro-era baseball and what Bjarkman calls “the world’s best unknown ballplayers,” including: the all-time home run king, Orestes Kindelán, and the all-time hits leader, Antonio Pacheco; the all-time leader in wins, southpaw Jorge Luis Valdés, and the man he surpassed, Braudilio Vinent; 1970s slugger Antonio Muñoz, reputedly a left-handed version of Tony Pérez; legendary shortstop Germán Mesa, often compared to Ozzie Smith; and the greatest of them all, third baseman Omar Linares.
Great stuff, all of it. I wonder if there’s any possibility in the near future of a full statistical encyclopedia of Cuban baseball since 1962?
The book, while an excellent reference book, is full of errors and is overly repetitive, telling us the same anecdote over and over.
For more on a few of the guys mentioned above, see:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Antonio_Pacheco
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jorge_Luis_Valdes
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Antonio_Munoz
Posted by: Mischa Gelman | June 26, 2008 at 04:54 PM
No, there are career totals for a few top players, plus standings, league leaders, etc.--the book's mostly narrative.
Posted by: Gary Ashwill | June 20, 2008 at 09:44 AM
Gary - How are the statistics in the book - pretty complete?
Posted by: Kevin | June 20, 2008 at 01:57 AM