What Jose Abreu’s Story Reveals About Major League Baseball

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu
Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, center (#79), celebrates his game-winning single with Melky Cabrera (53) and Adam Eaton (#1) against the Texas Rangers within a baseball game, Saturday, April 23, 2016, in Chicago.The White Sox won 4-3 in eleven innings. David Banks / AP
Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu
Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, center (#79), celebrates his game-winning single with Melky Cabrera (53) and Adam Eaton (#1) against the Texas Rangers within a baseball game, Saturday, April 23, 2016, in Chicago.The White Sox won 4-3 in eleven innings. David Banks / AP

What Jose Abreu’s Story Reveals About Major League Baseball

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 A federal grand jury has indicted some of the agents that brought White Sox star first baseman Jose Abreu from Cuba to the United States. His defection from the Communist country was an odyssey of small boats and rough seas that came at a cost. 

Not only did he have to leave his family behind, but he was forced to pay his smugglers an astounding $5.8 million for a chance at a better life and a career in Major League Baseball. 

We talk to Cuban baseball historian Peter Bjarkman about what the indictment reveals about the price Cuban ballplayers pay in order to make it to the United States. He’s the author of the forthcoming book Cuba’s Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story.