American Dreamer
Sports Illustrated|February 13,2017

One of the few Muslims to play pro baseball discusses what the ban and the U.S. mean to him.

Dr. Khalid Ballouli
American Dreamer

I’VE SEEN the scars on my father’s body. It’s not clear whether they’re from a knife or from bullets. He doesn’t talk about his time in the Lebanese army in the early 1970s. That was a dangerous time, and it got to be too much for my grandparents, so they told my dad, Walid, to get out of the country.

This story is from the February 13,2017 edition of Sports Illustrated.

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This story is from the February 13,2017 edition of Sports Illustrated.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.