NY Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman writes of adoration for Fidel Castro--fellow pitcher

Submitted 8/6/06 by Mortimer B. Zuckerman in US News and World Report:

• Zuckerman: "...Both of us had been pitchers, and we both still keenly enjoyed the game."

"Several years and many requests went by before I was finally granted my first one-on-one interview with Fidel Castro. But it was well worth waiting for. When we first sat down, we began talking at about 8 p.m. and didn't finish till 5 the next morning, with Fidel's translator, Juanita, providing brilliant support throughout. For the first four to five hours, Fidel pumped me for all kinds of information about America, from the role of the news media to race relations, from politics to the economy. Once he had exhausted his curiosity about the United States, he began answering my questions about Cuba, all of them.

• The interview took place about 15 years ago, and we focused intently on two subjects. One was the Cuban missile crisis; the other was Fidel's experience with the Russians and their military advisers, whom he utterly disdained.

Balls and strikes. To my surprise, as I was touring a medical research center after we finished talking, Fidel showed up and offered to serve as tour guide. We spent the rest of the day together, and the next two days after that. Each night, we sat down for dinner at about 8 or 9 p.m. and talked for seven or eight hours....

• To this day, I have one regret from that first visit.

On my last day in Havana, Fidel invited me to join him at the Cuban World Series, which was to start the next day. In our younger days, both of us had been pitchers, and we both still keenly enjoyed the game.

• I had pressing business back home, however, and decided to leave. Terrible call. What a gas it would have been to sit next to Fidel in the Havana sunshine, talking balls and strikes.

We met many times after that, each time talking deep into the night about what was going on with our respective countries and about the prospect of improved Cuban-American relations....

• Indeed, as I reflect on the 150 to 200 hours of conversations with him, I am impressed that a man who maintained such iron-fisted control over such an authoritarian regime could be possessed of such a roving, inquisitive mind....

Fidel Castro was somebody with whom, despite our deep political differences, I was able to establish an extraordinary bond, with a remarkable ease of conversation. I look forward to talking with him again soon."

• From US News & World Report article by Mortimer B. Zuckerman, "Letter from Havana: My Dinners with Fidel Castro," 8/06/06

Mr. Zuckerman is owner & publisher of the NY Daily News. He also has a real estate company called, "Boston Properties." He was born in Canada, and received his law degree from Harvard, where he was an associate professor for 9 years.

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