Monday, November 16, 2009
Yahoo: Bright lights, big dollars await Cuban lefty
The new world is bright and full of possibilities, and that excites both of them. Aroldis Chapman, who spent the first 21 years of his life shackled to an island, is absorbing his fresh tableau: skyscrapers and technology and the siren of vast riches unattainable in Cuba. Meanwhile, Chapman’s tour guide, Edwin Mejia, traverses a far different landscape: one filled with subterfuge and egos and landmines in the way of those vast riches.
Photo Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman has been clocking in pitches at 100 mph.
(Gregory Bull/AP Photo)For Chapman, the hardest part is done. He walked out of the hotel in Rotterdam. Those were the most painful steps he’ll ever take, not just away from his team and his country but his pregnant girlfriend and the rest of his family, whom he left because nobody appreciates a left arm that throws a baseball 100 mph more than men in suits in the United States.
A little story on the player who’ll soon be the Red Sox’s 13th ace…
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