Jose Ignacio Ramirez

Cuba and the "last" Baseball Season Jose Ignacio Ramirez

The migration of Cuban born baseball players since the 1800s to the present time to and from their homeland serves as the foundation of a significant period of time in the Cuban baseball history. The focus of this book is the story about baseball players in Cuba who learned of their inability to pursue their dremas to play professional baseball in their home country. This came about following the decision by the Castro regime to abolish professional baseball at the end of the 1960-61 season. Players were faced with the dilemma to either leave behind their family, home, friends and their beloved homeland, in order to play baseball professionally knowing they may never see them again, or to stay at home and pursue a different and uncertain way of life. Seeking advice from their parents given their very young age or very trusted people became a necessity. This is not simply another baseball story, it is about the personal struggle these men and their families endured, and the heart-wrenching judgement they had to make, during a relatively short period of time while they still had a choice to make such a decisiion. An analysis of what transpired in Cuba during the period time that preceded and followed the last professional baseball season soon after its demise serves to illustrate the environment in which they lived. Dealing with such a decision brought about a series of actions, taken mostly in privacy and secrecy that is reflected in some of the stories shared by some of the players and their families.