An Unlikely Journey from Cubs’ discarded slugger to World Series MVP
It was an audible crack, an earsplitting sound that could be heard in every nook and cranny of Minute Maid Parkin Houston, Texas. The crowd hung open mouthed as the streaming white dot sailed at at over 109mph over the left field train tracks and deep into the humid Texas night. The batter who jogged the bases was on his third career team, a power hitter who held home run records in Kansas City, a world series ring with a Chicago Cubs crest on it, and the most unlikely MVP for a World Series with the Atlanta Braves. The baseball had travelled four-hundred forty-six feet from home plate, marked forever by the hunk of Ash that was now lying unmolested next to home plate. He circled around third base to the wild cheers of his teammates careening out of the dugout to his right. The 6'4" ballplayer grinned with the confidence that after injury plagued seasons of being the replaceable strike-out risk, the 4th outfielder, the DH spot in AL ballparks, he as a 29 year old Cuban had left an unmistakable mark on the game of baseball forever.
The old saying for MLB scouting is, “You can’t walk off the island.” When it comes to procuring baseball talent from the brutal communist dictatorship of Cuba, the only way anyone is smuggled to the freedom of America is by…
