Players

In a land far removed from the grass-and-clay diamonds of Bennett Park, Yankee Stadium and Ebbets Field, Ty Cobb was thwarted on base paths, Babe Ruth lost a home-run derby, and Jackie Robinson began his bid to integrate American baseball.

When the Baltimore Orioles stepped onto the field of Havana’s Estadio Latinoamericano on March 28, 1999, it marked the first time in four decades a major-league team had played in Cuba. But the practice of major-leaguers playing on the island nation once was a routine part of a baseball tradition dating back to the before the turn of the century.

Major League teams and players weren't the only visitors to the island. At a time when baseball in the United States was divided along racial lines, Cuba, like other Latin American countries, was a haven for interracial baseball.

The atmosphere at El Gran Estadio del Cerro (above) was different from that of major league stadiums in the United States in other respects as well, not the least of which differences could be found in the stands where the wagers of boisterous Cuban fans would begin with the first pitch and wouldn't end until the final out.

[Interview with Monte Irvin]