c. 1960: Baseball with Fidel Castro
For Castro, to succeed at baseball— massively popular across Cuba since its introduction in the 1860s, and tantamount to the country’s national sport—represented the opportunity to beat America at its own game, so to speak. Shortly after he came to power in 1959, Castro formed and played in an exhibition baseball team called Los Barbudos (The Bearded Ones), its number drawn exclusively his revolutionary comrades.
Los Barbudos regularly played in exhibition games during Cuba’s professional seasons. As far as Castro was concerned, seeing Castro in baseball regalia showed Cubans that their leader was just like them - he too loved their game.
