Throwing heat in Cuba

With a little coaching from wannabe-pitcher-turned-dictator Fidel Castro, former President Jimmy Carter throws out the ceremonial first pitch at the Cuban League All-Star Game 22 years ago today at Latino-American Stadium in Havana.

Carter’s trip to Cuba is the first for an American president – sitting or former – since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

Reportedly – in his younger, pre-dictator days – Fidel Castro thinks highly enough of himself as a ballplayer to entertain thoughts of pitching in the major leagues.

Not that Castro ever possesses that kind of talent, although that does not stop others from creating the myth that Castro is a wunderkind along the lines of the fictional Sidd Finch.

But just imagine if the myths are reality, and how history changes if some major league team in the 1950s gives Castro the chance.

A young, wannabe pitcher named Fidel Castro