AROLDIS CHAPMAN, now a pitcher for the New York Yankees, has hurled the fastest fastball ever thrown in a major-league baseball game. It was a 1o5.1mph (169kph) scorcher in a game against the San Diego Padres in 2010. Fans call him the "Cuban Missile". He is one of a score of Cuban-born players in the United States' top league. Most, including Mr Chapman, defected from the communist island, often in harrowing circumstances. Yasiel Puig, a right-fielder for the Cincinnati Reds, was held hostage by gangsters at a motel in Mexico for months on one of his many attempts to escape Cuba.
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