Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez

The film “A League of Their Own” was the introduction of the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) to many people. While the movie was a decent look at life for the women who played hardball, real life for players was not always what was portrayed in the movie. One such woman was Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez, who played her first game in the league when she was a 15 year old away from her homeland of Cuba for the first time. Her story is one that makes for a very interesting book.

Author Kat D. Williams takes much of her material for the book from her interviews and later friendship with Lefty – the name Williams uses throughout the book. This is the complete story of not only Lefty’s life in both Cuba and the United States, but it also contains much material on the history of baseball in Cuba and also a deep look at some of the political upheaval in Cuba, especially with the overthrow of the Batista government in 1959. That was important in Lefty’s childhood as her father Prudencio worked for Batista’s police force and had to switch careers when he was overthrown. Between this and Lefty’s mother’s wish for Lefty to have a middle class life, Lefty was placed into job interviews and proposals that were not for her. When her mother Virtudes let her play sports, that became the identity Lefty needed in order to have some type of career.

Identity is a common theme throughout the book, as Williams talks frequently about Lefty was constantly struggling with her true identity. Baseball was what ended up being her calling to go to the United States (at her mom’s urging) and she was able to play with the Chicago Colleens, a barnstorming AAGPBL team. That team was like a minor league team for the major leagues, but Lefty did well enough that she not only came back for a second year, but she played for the Fort Wayne Daisies in the “big leagues”

Lefty faced the challenges all Latino ballplayers face when coming to the United States for the first time – a new environment in a big city and knowing little or no English. Because players in the AAGPBL either roomed together for living quarters or were billeted with a family, Lefty made an impression on many people, but because of her insecurities, she had a hard time making true friends or developing relationships.

This aspect of her life was well illustrated by Williams, as was Lefty’s life after the demise of the AAGPBL. Whether it was her new identity as a factory worker, which she did until her retirement in 1979, her battles with alcoholism or later her joyful reunion with many of her AAGPBL alumni, the reader will be right there with Lefty as she ends up carving out that middle class existence that her mother wanted for her. One very nice tidbit Williams adds is that Lefty was one of the actual AAGPBL players who made a cameo appearance in “A League of Their Own” during the reunion scene at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

One other notable item about the book is the format. There is a lot of information about not only the Cuban revolution but also the history of Cuban baseball. While it seems like these topics would not relevant to Lefty’s life, they were as Lefty insisted that Williams include them in the book. That statement, and how Williams was true to Lefty’s legacy, is what makes this book a very good read. It is not only about a baseball player in the AAGPBL, but also about a young Latino woman who makes good in America.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

In many ways this is the perfect sporting story for me, combining one of my favourite sports with a social history and a personal struggle. Lefty Alvarez grew up in poverty in Cuba, shy and uncertain of herself she was pushed by her mother to break out of the poor life that she had come to resent. Split between love for her mother, her desire to please, and the increasingly desperate and in some cases abusive routes she was being sent down, Lefty finally found release through baseball, the game within which she was able to find her identity.

The writing, however, feels clunky at times and in places it feels like the author is stretching the story to fill the necessary pages for a book. It is an appealing narrative and a story that it is good to hear told, but it may have been more appropriate within a broader context that allowed greater scope for the writing.

It’s not that there isn’t a lot to go for here with a young girl growing up in a country wrestling with its own uncertain future. There are mirrors in their struggles as Cuba battles through revolution and uprising to the tough reality of going it alone and Lefty herself breaking free first to a hopeful life of travel and professional sport and then an isolation and alcohol dependency when sport disappears.

Lefty’s is a good story and in the context of female participation in sport, as well as immigration and social mobility, it is an important one that I am glad I have been able to hear. The timeline in the back of the book also shows how powerful stories can be, as women are shown to be playing again an increasing role in baseball. It is good that women’s baseball is getting recognition and this book gives Lefty Alvarez her place in that history, which is clearly well deserved.

I'm female.
I'm half Cuban.
I'm a lover of baseball..

However, I hadn't read anything about the history of baseball, much less the story of a Cuban woman who emigrated to the United States at the right time: During the war when women were actually allowed to play baseball. So I picked up this book expecting something in the vein of the movie "A League of Their Own." Instead, I found a bit of history of life in Batista's Cuba, a bit about the revolution, and a bit about baseball. The author links these themes to Lefty's life in a deft way so as we are learning about her life we see the impact these had on her.

Lefty's life is reconstructed based on interviews with people who knew her and the reader is left with a portrait of a young woman who wanted to do right by her family (they had certain expectations), who enjoyed the opportunity to play the sport she loved, but who also struggled with socializing and being herself during her years playing baseball..

Overall, I enjoyed the book,.