PETER C. BJARKMAN

Award-Winning Author and Baseball Historian

Bjarkman Booklist

CUBAN BASEBALL HISTORY

Fidel Castro and Baseball: The Untold Story

“Peter Bjarkman deserves the largest hurrah for his exceptional research, analysis, and captivating writing style in detaching myth from reality, debunking long-established political and sporting biases, and ultimately detailing the extraordinary story of Fidel Castro and Baseball.” — William Humber

Cuba's Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story

“Daring, honest, exceptional… Peter C. Bjarkman has written a must-read primer for anyone considering the truth behind Cuban baseball’s impact on Major League Baseball.” — Ray Otero

A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006 (hardcover and paperback editions)

"Bjarkman delivers the definitive work on Cuban baseball" — Library Journal

The Yanqui in Cuba's Dugout: Travels Inside Fidel Castro's Baseball Empire (in progress)

“Nobody knows more about the intertwining of politics and baseball in Cuba than Peter Bjarkman ...” — Omar Minaya

Cuban Baseball Legends (SABR Digital Library)

Pioneering bilingual editions (English and Spanish volumes) edited by Peter C. Bjarkman and Bill Nowlin and drawn from SABR Biography Project archives on legendary Cuban ballplayers. Features portraits of many of Cuba's most legendary pre- and post-revolution stars.

Smoke — The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball (co-authored with Mark Rucker)

"Smoke is visual, visceral energy ... Rarely does a baseball book offer so much ..." — Sports Collectors Digest

Diamonds around the Globe: Encyclopedia of International Baseball

"Truly a triumph of research and good writing, this gem should be on the reference shelves of any library boasting a serious baseball collection." — Paul Kaplan, Library Journal

Baseball with a Latin Beat: A History of the Latin American Game

"An unrivaled definitive history of the Latino invasion of the North American pastime." — amazon.com

ADDITIONAL BASEBALL HISTORY

New York Mets Encyclopedia

Five-decade illustrated history of major league baseball's most successful and popular post-expansion-era franchise

The Baseball Scrapbook (Four Editions)

"A celebration of the powerful grip that America's game has on its millions of fans, and an attempt to recreate baseball history as it lives in our memory and imagination."

Baseball & the Game of Life (Edited Fiction)

Pete Bjarkman also edited the popular early-1990s collection of baseball short stories entitled Baseball & The Game of Life (which appeared in both English and Japanese editions)

Additional Baseball Team Histories

Early Bjarkman coffee table pictorial team history volumes include books on the Toronto Blue Jays, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers (the latter pair published in the Brompton Book's "Baseball Great Dynasties Series).

BASKETBALL HISTORY

The Biographical History of Basketball

An ultimate guide to the top figures (on the court and off) timed for the sports collegiate centennial and also covering the first half-century of the professional game.

Hoopla: A Century of College Basketball

The composite story of American collegiate basketball, written on the occasion of the sport's centennial and later reissued in an attractive paperback edition.

Boston Celtics Encyclopedia

Colorful review of one of pro basketball's most-storied franchises, focusing equally on the Russell-Cousy-Auerbach unparalleled dynasties years during the strife-torn Sixties and the rebirth of glory under Larry Bird and Robert Parrish in the Eighties and Nineties.

Miscellaneous Basketball Books

A quintet (appropriately enough) of pro and college basketball volumes representing the author's free-lance work in the final decade of the 20th century, before the siren-call of baseball in Cuba.

ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS

Edited Books, Chapters and Introductions

A collection of additional baseball and basketball volumes edited by the author, plus major contributed chapters and a handful of volume "introductions" contributed over the years.

SABR Biography Project

Bjarkman's several dozen SABR BioProject articles (on-line and forthcoming) are all linked here (Cuban and Japanese players). The author's Bios for Cuban big league playerss are also linked above on the separate Cuban Baseball Legends book page.

Sports Books for Young Adult Readers

Nine early Bjarkman authored sports biographies for Young Adult Readers produced in the early and mid-1990s

Bjarkman in Spanish (Additional Translations)

The author's work has also appeared extensively in Spanish, including numerous journal articles. Several of his books have also been translated into other foreign-language editions (Japanese, French and Polish)

THE SABR BIOGRAPHY PROJECT

THE SABR BIOGRAPHY PROJECT ON-LINE

Under Construction

Bjarkman's SABR Bio Project Articles (Published)

Orlando (El Duque) Hernández and Liván Hernández (December 2016)
José de la Caridad Méndez *December 2016)
Cristóbal Torriente (December 2016)
Camilo Pascual (December 2016)
Tomás de la Cruz (January 2015)
Fidel Castro and Baseball (August 2013, updated July 2016)
Sadaharu Oh (July 2013)
Victor Starffin (June 2013)
Aquino Abreu (December 2012)
Zoilo Versalles (April 2012)
Tony Oliva (April 2012)
Pedro Ramos (August 2011)
The Cuban League, Post 1962 (February 2011)
Omar Linares (January 2011)
Adolfo Luque (April 2010, revised February 2013)
Martin Dihigo (March 2010)
Connie Marrero (March 2010, revised April 2011, again revised April 2014)

Bjarkman's SABR Bio Project Articles (in preparation)

Victor Mesa (to appear)
Eiji Sawamura (with Rob Fitts) (to appear)
Caribbean Series (to appear)
World Baseball Classic (to appear)
Baseball World Cup (to appear)
Olympic Baseball (to appear)
Cuban Winter League (to appear)
Havana Latin American Stadium (to appear)
Pedro Luis Lazo (to appear)
Enriíque Díaz (to appear)
Orestes Kindelán (to appear)
José Valdivielso (to appear)

Bjarkman Reprints in SABR Biography Project Books

TONY OLIVA in: A PENNANT FOR THE TWIN CITIES, Edited by Gregory H. Wolf. Phoenix: SABR Digital Library, 2015, 180-193.

CAMILO PASCUAL in: A PENNANT FOR THE TWIN CITIES, Edited by Gregory H. Wolf. Phoenix: SABR Digital Library, 2015, 194-204.

ZOILO VERSALLES in: A PENNANT FOR THE TWIN CITIES, Edited by Gregory H. Wolf. Phoenix: SABR Digital Library, 2015, 277-286.

DOLF LUQUE in: THE MIRACLES BRAVES of 1914, Edited by Bill Nowlin. Phoenix: SABR Digital Library, 2014, 102-112.

TOMAS DE LA CRUZ in: WHO'S ON FIRST: REPLACEMENT PLAYERS IN WORLD WAR II. Edited by Marc Z. Aaron and Bill Nowlin. Phoenix: SABR Digital Library, 2014, 96-107.