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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."
It's not quite like today's spring training: one might find a
rookie ballplayer (nicknamed Hack) uprooting trees with his bare
hands or a future president of the United States getting into a
barroom brawl with some grizzled sportswriters. The team was the
Chicago Cubs, and the place was Santa Catalina Island-through the
Roaring Twenties, Great Depression, and World War II. William
Wrigley owned both island and ballclub; from 1921 to 1951, they
came together. There were movie stars, like Betty Grable and
Marilyn Monroe. There were grand steamships, big bands, hopes and
dreams, and World Series rings. It's Chicago Cubs: Baseball on
Catalina Island, and it's a trip like no other.
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