Preface: Entering the Field  vii

Acknowledgments  xv

Introduction. The Theoretical "Stretching:" of Sport and the State  1

1. Baseball and the Language of Contention  17

2. Circling the Base Paths: Baseball, Migration, and the Cuban Nation  36

3. The Spectacle of and for Cuba  63

4. The State in Play: The Politics of Cuba's National Sport  89

5. Fans, Rivalries, and the Play of Cuba  111

6. Talking a Good Game  136

7. The Qualities of Cubanidad: Calidad and Lucha in Baseball  159

Conclusion: Touching 'Em All: Recalling and Recounting Home Runs  183

Notes  203

Works Cited  213

Index  231

Winner, 2009 Outstanding Book Award, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport

“A labour of love written, it would appear, despite the political sensitivity of the game on the island and its own inner politics, The Quality of Home Runs uses baseball as a tool with which to provide an engaging and interesting perspective on Cuban identity.”—Gavin O’Toole, Latin American Review of Books

“[The Quality of Home Runs] could only have been written by someone with a deep love for the game. . . . Carter's work proves just how illuminating it can be when sport's pleasures—and its inevitable links with politics and real life—are taken as seriously as they deserve to be.”—Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education

“An ethnographer, Carter. . . has a serious passion for Cuban baseball, and here he combines that love of the Cuban game with his academic discipline. . . . Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.”—S. Gittleman, Choice

“The book’s strength lies in Carter’s persistence in interpreting the heart and soul of what it means to be Cuban. Differing from other noteworthy scholarship produced in the last decade, The Quality of Home Runs is uniquely balanced as it uses a number of tools found in the disciplines of history, anthropology, political theory, and literature. Savvy and peppered with timely secondary source material, Carter’s work will be immensely stimulating to all interested in understanding cubanidad and the Hispanic Caribbean world’s long-standing tradition of baseball as a way of life.”—Darius V. Echeverría, NINE

“Carter’s superb account highlights the paucity of similar studies of sports. . . . Unfortunately, many in the academic community don’t have the necessary passion for sports. For those who do, this account is an ideal model.”—Thomas B. Stevenson, Journal of Anthropological Research

“For baseball fans, it is a treat to watch the game in Cuba. Carter’s book, The Quality of Home Runs, provides some insight into why. It addresses the particular attributes of the fans and the unusual role they play in the live experience of the game. With a keen eye to the intricacies of the sport as well as Cuban culture, history and politics, Carter, an ethnographer, examines what is Cuban about Cuban baseball, and how and why Cubans experience baseball the way they do.”—Katherine Baird, Journal of Latin American Studies

Winner, 2009 Outstanding Book Award, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport

“A labour of love written, it would appear, despite the political sensitivity of the game on the island and its own inner politics, The Quality of Home Runs uses baseball as a tool with which to provide an engaging and interesting perspective on Cuban identity.”—Gavin O’Toole, Latin American Review of Books

“[The Quality of Home Runs] could only have been written by someone with a deep love for the game. . . . Carter's work proves just how illuminating it can be when sport's pleasures—and its inevitable links with politics and real life—are taken as seriously as they deserve to be.”—Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education

“An ethnographer, Carter. . . has a serious passion for Cuban baseball, and here he combines that love of the Cuban game with his academic discipline. . . . Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.”—S. Gittleman, Choice

“The book’s strength lies in Carter’s persistence in interpreting the heart and soul of what it means to be Cuban. Differing from other noteworthy scholarship produced in the last decade, The Quality of Home Runs is uniquely balanced as it uses a number of tools found in the disciplines of history, anthropology, political theory, and literature. Savvy and peppered with timely secondary source material, Carter’s work will be immensely stimulating to all interested in understanding cubanidad and the Hispanic Caribbean world’s long-standing tradition of baseball as a way of life.”—Darius V. Echeverría, NINE

“Carter’s superb account highlights the paucity of similar studies of sports. . . . Unfortunately, many in the academic community don’t have the necessary passion for sports. For those who do, this account is an ideal model.”—Thomas B. Stevenson, Journal of Anthropological Research

“For baseball fans, it is a treat to watch the game in Cuba. Carter’s book, The Quality of Home Runs, provides some insight into why. It addresses the particular attributes of the fans and the unusual role they play in the live experience of the game. With a keen eye to the intricacies of the sport as well as Cuban culture, history and politics, Carter, an ethnographer, examines what is Cuban about Cuban baseball, and how and why Cubans experience baseball the way they do.”—Katherine Baird, Journal of Latin American Studies

“The Quality of Home Runs offers engaging and provocative perspectives on socialism, nationalism, masculinity, and the embodiment and poetics of sport in Cuba, all seen from the vantage point of the stadium stands and the streets of Havana. Thomas F. Carter’s emphasis on themes such as spectacle, social drama, struggle, and discipline of both players and fans, on and off the field, builds a persuasive analysis of changing notions of what it means to be Cuban.”—Thomas M. Wilson, Binghamton University

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