Major League Baseball returned to Cuba this week for an exhibition game between the Rays and the Cuban national team in Havana, but the action on the field was in no way as important as what continues to take place beyond the diamond.
The baseball world is paying close attention. That was made clear two weeks ago when I met U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor following her talk at the University of Illinois. After waiting in line with my family to have her sign our copy of her autobiography, she asked our affiliation with the university. I informed her I was a professor of history whose research was on Latinos in baseball.