In a pastiche of observation, personal narrative, interviews, and investigative reporting, S. L. Price, a Senior Writer for Sports Illustrated, describes sports and athletes in today's Cuba. On his many journeys to the island, Price finds a country that celebrates sports like no other and a leader who uses athletics as both symbol and weapon in his country's dying revolution. In interviews with Teofilo Stevenson, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, and Ana Quirot, S. L. Price unearths the truth about sports in Cuba and explores the complex reasons that drive athletes of promise to flee their homeland. Beyond an examination of sports in the hothouse of revolution, Pitching Around Fidel presents a vibrant and realistic portrait of Cuba today, complete with sex-happy tourists, blackouts, Fidel's famous former lover, and Charles Hill, a black nationalist fugitive wanted in the United States for murder and hijacking. At the core of Cuban sports is an enigma that Sports Illustrated senior writer S.L. Price captures in two sentences. The first part of it "holds that the great Cuban sports machine--instrument of totalitarian control and propaganda--is rightfully cracking apart. The second holds that Castro's regime not only has produced an unparalleled athletic system, but has also fostered a sports purist's delight, an American ideal, no less, for Cuba is one of the last places where athletes play for little more than love of the game." How is that possible? Pitching Around Fidel smartly aligns the contradictions. It's a provocative and penetrating look at the most fascinating and rabid sports culture on the planet, why sports in Cuba works, why it doesn't, and how its marvelous and gifted athletes are torn between the loyalties of home and the whiff of money 90 miles across the sea. Cuban athletes have been put on a pedestal since Castro took power, and their achievements on the international stage have swelled the national chest and been interpreted as triumphs over capitalism. Yet as conditions on the embargoed island deteriorate, athletes who complain are banished to oblivion, while others--think Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez of the Yankees and Mets shortstop Rey Ordonez--flee for freedom and cash. Price's reportage on how freedom and money have changed many of the exiles, Ordonez most notably, is stunning. And still, despite rundown facilities and repatched equipment, Cuba keeps turning out remarkable athletes and loyal fans. Examining the state of sports on the island, Price is in effect examining the state itself, and his own relationship to sports--and the big money of American sports--in the process. While the portrait he paints is not pretty, it is fascinating. There's much poignance in the joy that emanates from Cuba's playing fields, the passion in the stands, and the shabbiness Price observes in the appearance of the great Teofilo Stevenson--the multi-Olympic heavyweight champion and the island's reigning sports icon. Not even an icon can override the revolution's contradictions. --Jeff Silverman Price, a writer for Sports Illustrated, made many trips to Cuba and interviewed countless athletes, fans, and politicos for this fascinating account of contemporary Cuban sports. During Castro's rule, his country has produced myriad baseball, boxing, volleyball, and track champions, but recent defections and other signs of discontent indicate that the national system for developing and supporting world-class players is crumbling. Economic, political, and social depression have driven Cuban superstars such as Orlando "El Duque" Hern ndez and Rey Ordo$ez to seek asylum in the United States. Here they found inflated fame and fortune, of course, and the author also takes U.S. major leagues to task for devaluing loyalty between teams and players. Colorful characters abound in chapters that are part travelog, part expos . Highly recommended for public libraries. -Will Hepfer, SUNY at Buffalo Libs. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Fidel Castro eliminated professional sports in Cuba and, through an educational program that emphasized youth participation, created an amateur sports culture that was successful out of all proportion to the country's size. Price, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated , presents an intimate view of the country's sports culture four decades after the revolution. Trade embargoes, a failing economy, and the end of support from the Soviet Union have left the country--and its once proud sports programs--in shambles. Superstar Cuban athletes live in shacks but are bombarded daily by tales of the good life in Miami. Pride in the revolution, which once fueled superior athletic performance, is virtually nonexistent, fueling widespread defections of Cuban athletes. Price makes it all very personal via interviews with former great athletes, such as boxer Teofilo Stevenson--who some say was the equal of Ali. A fascinating study of one aspect of Cuban culture. Wes Lukowsky Copyrig