A quirky, wry, and often hilarious odyssey through the baseball fields of Latin America—both sports book and travelogue, political reportage and meditation on New World identity. With wit and style, John Krich evokes a world where barefoot kids perfect their swings with stalks of sugar cane, midget mascots dance the merengue atop dugouts, and wily scouts compete with dictators for the souls of promising shortstops. "El Beisbol sparkles with keen observation and irreverent humor."—Washington Post Book World