baseball2

Baseball in the Dominican Republic Today


                          The national sport and passion of Dominican Republic is baseball or
                         "Beisbol" as the Dominicans call it. No matter where you go on then
                          island you will find a baseball stadium/park, even in the poorest of
                          towns. Today more than one in six players in the American league is
                          from Latin America, the majority of them coming from the towns located
                          on the southeastern coast Dominican Republic.

                         The sugar mill towns (San Pedro de Macrois, La Romana) have long been
                          a part of Dominican Baseball. The history of baseball in these towns can
                          be traced back as far as the Cuban immigration to the Dominican
                          Republic. Dominican and American Mill owners approved of the sport and
                          encourage their workers to participate in the sport. The six months dead
                          season when sugar cane requires the least maintenance and the workers
                          were unemployed helped contributed to the development of baseball to
                          this area. Soon competitions were set up to pit one sugar mill against
                          other. Baseball was not just a sport to these people but was bred into
                          each child born.

                         The recruiting of young baseball players has become a year round job
                          here. More than 20 major league teams now have baseball-training
                          camps for prospective players. Scouts from these teams are sent out to
                          hold try outs throughout the island. Those who are lucky enough to
                          make the team are usually young boys between the ages of 17 and 18.
                          Once selected they are sent to the teams camp where they are housed,
                          fed and taught baseball. The average player will make about $800.00 a
                          month.

                          These young players will compete in the Summer League, which consists
                          of various training camps in a two-division league. If a prospect shows
                          promise, he is then promoted to the minor league system in the states
                          with hopes of making it to the major leagues. But for every new star
                          that is born, hundreds will not make it.

                         The winter league winners of the Caribbean Islands have met in the
                          Serie del Caribe since 1949 to determine the champs of the Caribbean.
                          Between 1949 and 1960 the countries of Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico and
                          Venezuela had played in early February to determine the champion of
                          the Caribbean. The series was discontinued after 1960 because of the
                          Cuban revolution, but in 1970 it resumed with the Dominican Republic
                          and Mexico replacing Cuba and Panama. It was not uncommon to see
                          many of the minor league players of the major league teams from the
                          United States play in these games but by the mid 1980 fewer return to
                          the islands to play due to risk of injury and the demand of the regular
                          season.