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 Lippy's translator correctly cursed him in
Spanish. Vin Scully watched machine gun-toting 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.