About

Peter C. Bjarkman (1941-2018) wrote over forty books, with a primary specialization in sports history. He was the senior writer for www.BaseballdeCuba.com, the leading source for current Cuban League and Cuban national team coverage. Bjarkman made numerous media appearances as an expert on Cuban baseball, including on the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations Cuba” (with celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain) and on ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary, “Brothers in Exile” (2014). He is the author of “A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006” (2007 hardcover, 2015 paperback) and coauthor of “Smoke, the Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball” (1999). In 2017 he won a Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) HENRY CHADWICK AWARD for career achievements as one of “baseball’s outstanding researchers.” His award-winning book “Cuba’s Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story” (2016) explores one of major league baseball’s most troublesome sagas of the new millennium. He was also honored posthumously with a 2019 SABR Baseball Research Award for his final book, “Fidel Castro and Baseball: The Untold Story,” published December 2018. Bjarkman passed away in October 2018 during a research trip in Havana, Cuba.

Other Works

  • Cuba's Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story

    2016
  • A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006

    2007 (2014)
  • Diamonds around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball

    2005
  • Smoke: The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball (with Mark Rucker)

    1999

Awards and Recognition

  • Winner of 2016 SABR Baseball Research Award (Society for American Baseball Research) for "Cuba's Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story"
  • Winner of 2008 SABR Edward Valero Latino Baseball Committee Award for Best Newsletter Article of the Year
  • Winner of 2007 SABR Robert Peterson Negro Leagues Committee Recognition Award ("A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006") for contributions of Negro league baseball history
  • Winner of 2004 Sporting News-SABR Award for "Diamonds around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball"
  • Winner of 1994 Macmillan-SABR Baseball Research Award for "Baseball with a Latin Beat: A History of the Latin American Game"
  • Winner of a 2017 SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) HENRY CHADWICK AWARD for Lifetime Achievement as a Distinguished Baseball Historian
  • Winner of 2019 SABR Baseball Research Award (Society for American Baseball Research) for "Fidel Castro and Baseball: The Untold Story"