If Fidel Castrol had signed on with the New York Giants in 1947?

In 1947 Fidel Castro was a young Havanna college student who played baseball REALLY well, enough so that he was offered $5000 to sign up with the New York Giants as a pitcher.

He spent a couple of weeks discussing it with friends and associates before deciding to reject the offer. Ten years later he was dictator of Cuba.

So what if he had taken the offer?

He must have been seriously tempted to take two weeks to decided to reject it. So the very real possiblity exists that Castro might now best be remembered as a famous baseball player of the late 40's and 50's.

- Would someone else have just taken over the role he played and Cuba had basically the same history? (Batista lasts a year or two more or less, nothing massive in the way of change)

- Was Fidel's personal leadership sufficiently important that without it the whole thing works out differently?
-- Ie the communists in the hills stay a nusiance, on the level of the communist rebels in eastern India, they have been active for decades but no one thinks of them as a threat to India's economic growth rate, let alone its government.

Your thought Ladies and Gentlemice...
 
Great question. It is hard to say how that would shake things up. To be honest, predicting if Castro becomes a great baseball player or not is a crap shoot (Tom Brady drafted in the sixth round should be exhibit A on that). He could end up the next Roberto Clemente or he could hand around the minors for a season or two before getting cut and heading back to Cuba and so we'd have to assume that if he played baseball, at the very least he'd be out of the picture in terms of the revolution in Cuba. If he's playing in the States then he's not in Mexico for the fateful meeting with Che, and who knows what happens then.

I tend to think that a Colombia/Peru/India style rebellion was impossible in Cuba because of size and borders. The FARC and the Shining Path have the benifit of a huge jungle to work out of and a very, very long unguarded international border to fall back on in tight spots. Cuba is just too small. They can run and hide in the mountains, but sooner or later they will gain momentum or get routed. The longer they hang around the less likely it will be that they will take over.

I really think Castro was the right person, at the right time, to overthrow Batista. IMO, without Castro, Batista hangs around until 73, is replaced by another comical dictator, and either finally starts to capitalize on all the Yankee tourism or turns into El Salvador in the 1980s. But without Castro, I don't think we have a communist Cuba
 
I really think Castro was the right person, at the right time, to overthrow Batista. IMO, without Castro, Batista hangs around until 73, is replaced by another comical dictator, and either finally starts to capitalize on all the Yankee tourism or turns into El Salvador in the 1980s. But without Castro, I don't think we have a communist Cuba
Nah. Castro might butterfly away a communist Cuba, but
Batista's going down, whether it be by Frank País or Che and Cienfuegos.
 
Firstly, there was thread about this recently.

Secondly, this an urban legend. Check out snopes.com
sorry, im on my nook, and cant search this site, nor cut and paste links.
 
This is older than Cracked, because I heard about this contract offer like a decade ago. IIRC there's a short story based on it.
 
Another idea is that he signs, is an all star for a couple of years and then get and injury and retires back to Cuba. When there he uses his wealth and popularity to start another style of revolution, still Socialist but less of the hard core Communist ideas. Batista's government falls and Castro is the new leader.
 
Another idea is that he signs, is an all star for a couple of years and then get and injury and retires back to Cuba. When there he uses his wealth and popularity to start another style of revolution, still Socialist but less of the hard core Communist ideas. Batista's government falls and Castro is the new leader.

However, if Castro becomes an All-Star Baseball player, then that completely changes the dynamic of his revolution and the way that the USA perceives Castro. For one, because he was a baseball player, his movement is likely to be seen much more sympathetically by Washington. His experience in America, dealing with racism, but also becoming good enough to earn the respect of white people in the USA, would also change Castro into being more likely to stage a revolution that is more sympathetic toward the US goals. If Castro becomes a Roberto Clemente type figure, then it'll be impossible for Batista to continue his regime without reforms if Castro is opposing him and that he'd be a beloved figure in the United States, especially in either New York and then San Francisco. Also its also likely that if Castro gets into politics at all, it wouldn't be until the mid sixties once Castro is past his playing days.
 
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