Far From Home

There was a nice review of Brother Tim's new book, Far From Home in the Wall Street Journal today:

This book broadly portrays the various Latino waves in Major League Baseball and contains many brief historical sketches, including a page about an early Washington Senators super-scout, "Papa" Joe Cambria. He worked the Latin America beat in the late 1930s through the 1940s, signed numerous Latinos, and possibly even scouted Fidel Castro.

"Far From Home" contains over 100 photographs, including a poignant photo-essay by co-author José Luis Villegas. His subject, from a series of photos taken in 1996: two Oakland A's prospects, Dominicans Miguel Tejada and Mario Encarnacion. Mr. Tejada, the lesser-regarded of the two prospects, morphed quickly into a star for Oakland and now plays for the Houston Astros. Mr. Encarnacion kicked around various second-tier leagues and died in 2005 at the age of 30 from a congenital heart condition.

The final pages of the book include a portrait gallery of a dozen-plus Latino stars, including pitchers Fernando Valenzuela, the first player to win rookie of the year and Cy Young awards in the same year, and Juan Marichal, who wrote this book's introduction. These portraits are an appropriate homage, as it is these and dozens of other Latino all-stars who have boosted Major League Baseball.

Tim has three books coming out this year, at least by my count. You can read about them on Tim's home page.