THE ZAPPER

John O'Keefe

July 23, 2001

The solidly researched Stealing Home: The Case for Contemporary Cuban Baseball (PBS, Thursday, 10 p.m.) details how the first player defection, of pitcher Rene Arocha in 1991, began a slow leak that is draining Cuba of its top talent and of some of its love for the game.... Sure, Fox knew in advance that Alex Rodriguez would insist that Cal Ripken Jr. play shortstop during the All-Star Game's first inning. Still, having play-by-play man Joe Buck announce the position switch before it happened and seeing a Fox camera in place along the third base line robbed the moment of some of its spontaneity.