Kill the Ámpaya! The Best Latin American Baseball Fiction

"If baseball is really a metaphor for life, then Kill the Ámpaya -- Dick Cluster's wonderful collection of Latin American baseball stories -- is an astonishing record of its beauty and coarseness, redemption and tragedy. You don't have to be a baseball fan to appreciate these stories, each one hinged on baseball directly or indirectly, and delight in this reading.”—Achy Obejas, author of The Tower of Antilles and Other Stories

Introduction ............................................................................................4Eduardo del Llano, Swimming Upstream ........................................................29Sandra Tavárez, Sacrifice ...........................................................................39Sergio Ramírez, Apparition in the Brick Factory ................................................42Carmen Hernández Peña, End of the Game ......................................................55Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, The Last Voyage of Arcaya the Shark ............................63Arturo Arango, The Stadium .......................................................................79Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Braces ...................................................................90Alexis Gómez Rosa, The Real Thing .............................................................96Leonardo Padura, The Wall ......................................................................105Nan Chevalier, Winners and Losers .............................................................117José Bobadilla, The Strange Game of the Men in Blue .......................................128Rafael Acevedo, Clock Reaches the Emperor's Citadel ......................................146Salvador Fleján, Big Leagues ....................................................................151Daniel Reyes German, How Tomboy María Learned She Could Fly ......................164Andrés Eloy Blanco, The Glory of Mamporal .................................................176Cezanne Cardona, An Infamous Home Run ....................................................186Marcial Gala, The Pitcher .........................................................................197Vicente Leñero, Aut At Third .....................................................................202Further Reading .....................................................................................209Acknowledgments ..................................................................................211