In 2002, Boston’s Latin American scout was the first to arrive at a Nicaraguan hotel where Contreras — who had defected from the Cuban national team—was staying, and booked the room next to the right-hander.

“He called me up and said, ‘All the other teams are on their way down here, what do you want me to do?’ I said, ‘Buy all the rooms,’” Epstein recalled. He did, and Yankees executives were forced to stay down the road. “We were smoking cigars and drinking rum [with Contreras] at four in the morning.”

that is a great story.