Rating: 
Summary: Even the casual baseball fan will enjoy it.
Review: Tim Wendel is an excellent writer. I am not a baseball fanatic, but I certainly had more of an appreciation for the game after reading this well written, intriguing book. The writer's passion for baseball oozes out of every page. He also gives the reader an interesting tour of Cuba --its culture, history, politics, landscape and love of baseball. The whole premise of the book is creative and imaginative. Wendel is successful in making the reader believe that Fidel Castro really did had a wicked curveball that could have landed him in a major league baseball career if he hadn't been such a die-hard revolutionary. It was interesting to see an author tackle the challenge of writing a book of fiction about a current political figure like Fidel Castro. I will closely follow Tim Wendel's writing career and will be eager to read his next book.
Rating: 
Summary: A "base hit!"
Review: Tim Wendel's "Castro's Curveball" scores one for originality.Taking either a common myth or a known fact about Fidel Castro's prospect as a baseball player, Mr. Wendel puts his readers into the heart felt journey of an old man's past; a past full of regret, remorse and lost love. A past, that with the help of his daughter Cassy, Billy Bryan may finally be able to put to rest. As a old man, Billy Bryan will regret ever meeting the famed revolutionary Fidel. Especially when he has to revisit his memories of a lost love named Malena, and his glory days of playing "America's favorite pastime" in a country that is the antithesis of all that is pure, and free. But soon a change occurs. It is a change, much like real life, that comes with the help of others. Mr. Wendel makes us see that the things we most often dislike and oversee in life awake us to the good times we failed to enjoy and observe. Mr. Wendel's goal for writing this book was, "What if?" What if Castro did try and go on to become a major league baseball player in the United States? Given that we have little or no information about him doing so, I think Mr. Wendel does a good job of offering us a possible outcome. With lucid prose, a strong plot and intriguing characters, Tim Wendel makes "Castro's Curveball" a good catch!
Rating:
Summary: A game, a revolutionary, a nation changed
Review: Wendel captures Cuba at its crossroads - the Carribean Las Vegas about to become a third world nation, frozen in time. The story line is one of hope - the hope of a career minor leaguer trying to make it to the bigs, as well as the hope of a revolutionary trying to change a country. Both characters brought together by the love of the game of baseball. Wendel captures the struggle of each, complete in the knowledge that a price has to be paid before the goal is ever, if ever, attained. The minor leaguer paying the price of having to play winter ball to improve; the revolutionary paying the price of having to gain momemtum from true grass roots politics. Wendel is masterful at showing how the love of baseball can bring together radically different people in a peaceful setting, and afterwards, just as at games today, everyone goes their own ways, each with a different opinion of what was the best thing about what happened that day at the ballpark. A great book that showed me why a person like Castro, so villified today, could reach out and gain the love and trust of his fellow countrymen. I recommend the book highly.
| 
