Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s love for baseball was well known. If you believe certain myths, his talents as a baseball prospect in the 1940’s very nearly brought him to the U.S., which could have changed the course of history forever.
Castro was born in 1926, so he was a teenager in an era when baseball was king and professional baseball fantasies swirled in almost all young men’s dreams. However, politics took priority and Castro shifted his ambitions from the diamond to his home country’s government.
Cuban born players like Sandy Amoros, Bert Campanaris, Mike Cuellar, Minnie Minoso, Tony Perez and Zoilo Versailles emerged in major league baseball in the 1950’s and 60’s. We wonder what crossed Castro’s mind as MLB scouts plucked talented players from Cuban sandlots. Then to see many of his countrymen thrive at the highest level of the game, and on U.S. soil.
Despite all that was on his plate with Cuban and world affairs, his love of baseball remained and Castro liked to step up to the plate on occasion, as presented here in this iconic original photo. While not dated, it is believed this photo is circa 1961. Fidel Castro “At the Bat”, ready to smash a pitch to left center, or beyond.