Baseball's New Wave

Baseball has long been a game of personalities. Hank Aaron, Roger Maris, the Babe. In baseball's modern incarnation, though, much of the attention has shifted from the homegrown boys of yore to the imported brand of Latino players who come to the fields of the US with their own style and stories.

In sportswriter Tim Wendel's previous book, Castro's Curveball, he imagines an alternate reality for the former standout pitcher in which Fidel gives up revolutionary thoughts for a shot at the big leagues. In Wendel's new book, Far From Home: Latino Baseball Players in America, he shifts to reality, charting the emergence of Hispanic players in the major leagues and dissecting their influence on America's pastime.