THE WILD RIDE OF THE HAVANA SUGAR KINGS

How the International League became entwined with Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution.

Despite only playing in the International League for six seasons, from 1954-1959, the Havana Sugar Kings may have the most fascinating history of any minor league club in the history of professional baseball. In those six years, they were the only professional baseball team to compete against Fidel Castro on the field, they took stray gunfire from Castro’s rebels, and yet they were also Castro’s favorite team, which made them a pawn in US-Cuba relations after Castro’s communist revolution.

The Sugar Kings may have only appeared on the field for six seasons, but their legacy on both the Cuban and American political and sports landscape has been playing out for the last 60 years… read more >