Peter C. Bjarkman

PETER C. BJARKMAN (born in Hartford, Connecticut on May 19, 1941) is author of 40-plus books on sports history, including academic histories, coffee table pictorials, and biographies for young adult readers. He is perhaps best known in recent years as the leading authority on post-revolution Cuban League baseball and is also the first American to write regular columns and analysis on two "official" Cuban League baseball websites. His 2007 book, History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006 is universally recognized as the definitive work treating the history of Cuba's national pastime.

Bjarkman's earlier pictorial history of Cuban baseball entitled Smoke: The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball (1999, Total Sports, with photographer Mark Rucker) is widely recognized as a landmark achievement in the field. His more recent volume, Diamonds around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball (2005, Greenwood), was winner of The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award and a finalist for Spitball magazine's CASEY AWARD as "Baseball Book of the Year." Bjarkman's 1994 study, Baseball with a Latin Beat: A History of the Latin American Game (McFarland), earned the Macmillan-SABR Baseball Research Award. He is a frequent radio/​television guest and invited speaker on international baseball, plus a regular columnist for the Spanish-language monthly periodical Béisbol Mundial (New York).

Bjarkman—who splits his year between Lafayette, Indiana; Zagreb, Croatia; and Havana, Cuba—has traveled extensively throughout Cuba (30-plus visits) over the past decade and was the first American interviewed extensively about Cuban baseball on Cuban national television (2001-2005) during the 45-year history of the Cuban Socialist Revolution; he today ranks as the leading authority on the history of post-1962 Cuban League and Cuban national team baseball. Bjarkman has attended numerous major Olympic-style international baseball tournaments over the past ten years and recently covered Baseball World Cup XXXVI in The Netherlands (September 2005) for the Prensa Latina (Havana, Cuba) English-language website and the MLB World Baseball Classic (March 2006) for the Spanish-language magazine Béisbol Mundial. His latest books, entitled A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006 (2007), Baseball's Other Big Red Machine: A History of the Cuban National Team (Forthcoming, 2009), and Who's Who in Cuban Baseball, 1962-2006 (Forthcoming, 2009) are published by McFarland & Company. Bjarkman writes and lectures in both English and Spanish.

A native New Englander, Bjarkman earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics (University of Florida) in 1976, M.A. in English (Trinity College, Hartford) in 1972, M.Ed. in Educational Administration (University of Hartford, Summa Cum Laude) in 1970, and B.S.Ed. in Education (University of Hartford, Magna Cum Laude) in 1963. He has been married since 1985 to Purdue University linguistics professor Ronnie B. Wilbur, a leading researcher and authority on deaf sign languages, and has two adult children. His avocations include model railroading (HO and N scale) and building the most extensive existing collection of Cuban League game-worn baseball uniforms.

Bjarkman is a member of The Author's Guild (2006) and the SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research (since 1987).

BJARKMAN'S MAJOR WRITING AWARDS

2008 Recipient—SABR Latino Committee Eduardo Valero Memorial Award (from the Society for American Baseball Research Latino Committee, for the best La Prensa newsletter article published in 2007-2008)

2007 Recipient—Robert Peterson Recognition Award (from the Society for American Baseball Research Negro Leagues Committee, for A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006, McFarland & Company Publishers, 2007)

2005 Finalist—Spitball Casey Award (Top Ten Nomination for Diamonds around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005)

2004 Winner—The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award (Awarded for Diamonds around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005)

2002 Recipient (with Mark Rucker)—Reconocimento al Mérito "Palmar de Junco" Monumento Nacional (Special Merit Recognition of the Palmar de Junco National Monument), presented in appreciation for the publication of Smoke—The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball. Special award presented by the Matanzas (Cuba) Peña Deportiva ("Matanzas Sports Club")

2000 Finalist—SABR Seymour Medal (Nominated with Mark Rucker for Smoke—The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball, Total Sports Illustrated, 1999)

1999 Finalist—Spitball Casey Award (Top Ten Nomination with Mark Rucker for Smoke—The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball, Total Sports Illustrated, 1999)

1994 Winner—The Macmillan-SABR Baseball Research Award (Awarded for Baseball with a Latin Beat: A History of the Latin American Game, McFarland & Company Publishers, 1994)