Beisbol at Center of Cuban-US Rapprochement

I've written articles this year in the Los Angeles Times and the Nation, as well as an entire book, Listen Yankee! on the Cuban-US rapprochement, but my favorite reporting is about baseball and coexistence. Not only because I'm an old ballplayer who's visited Cuba several times, but because baseball is the best framework for achieving real results in the immediate future. The sport is a shared passion in both our countries; baseball diplomacy already is bringing real results and the solidifying a long-term rapprochement subject to pressure on other fronts. Only a 50 percent increase in authorized American travel to Cuba this year will have equal or greater effect now that more than 100 commercial flights by a US airline are being negotiated.