Watch Greener Grass: Cuba, Baseball and the United States on Hulu

If you’re buzzing about Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, you should check out the ITVS documentary, Greener Grass: Cuba, Baseball and the United States, streaming now on Hulu.

The history of Cuban-American relations is brought into focus through the lens of baseball in Greener Grass. The passion for the sport on both sides of the Straits of Florida was evident in 1999, when a historic two-game series pitted the Baltimore Orioles against the Cuban National Team. For the first time in 40 years, a Major League team played in Havana, and the Cuban team traveled to Baltimore. In packed stadiums, cowbells and fans, protesters and conga drums provided a backbeat for the series. But, behind the excitement lay a complex history of competition and cooperation that stretches back to baseball’s origins.

Covering more than a century of baseball history, the documentary illustrates the ways in which the game has served as both a common ground and a test of strength between politically estranged countries. It also reveals how baseball is a microcosm that reflects divergent national identities, as well as the underlying tensions of race, democracy, and opportunity.

Greener Grass: Cuba, Baseball and the United States, by Aaron Woolf, Rudolph Callegari and Nancy Roth, was first broadcast on PBS in 2000, and re-broadcast on the ITVS series Global Voices in 2008. The new season of Global Voices premieres on May 9th (check local listings).

Watch Greener Grass: Cuba, Baseball and the United States on Hulu >>