Download or read book Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba written by Jim Vitti and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-28 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Brooklyn Dodgers held spring training in Havana in 1947 so Jackie Robinson could practice safely. Yet that was hardly the beginning: the Bums played in Cuba over 60 seasons, from 1900 to 1959. Ballplayers drank hard with Hemingway. Some found themselves in Cuban jails. Pitcher Van Lingle Mungo, barricaded in the Hotel Nacional with two women, fended off an angry husband (and his machete). Leo Durocher got into a brawl with an umpire, after Lippys translator correctly cursed him in Spanish. Vin Scully watched machine guntoting barbudas enter the room. An outfielder leaped into the stands, with a loaded gun, to chase a fan. Several players encountered Castro, who once walked onto the field in his fatigues, patted his pistol, and said to Lefty Locklin, Tonight, we win.