Baseball in the Dominican Republic

By Christopher Minster

On September 23, 1956, the New York Giants sent out a rookie infielder that had just been called up from the minors two or three days before. That rookie, Ozzie Virgil, would go on to have a nine-year career that was mostly distinguished by the fact that he played every position except for pitcher at some point. Today he is best known for that September day, as he was the first native of the Dominican Republic to play professional baseball in the USA. Today, the Dominican players could make up their own all-star team.

Usually when you leave the US; it’s all soccer, all the time. Not in the Dominican Republic, where baseball is king. Baseball has been around in the Dominican Republic since the 1880’s, and the first teams formed around 1895. It was brought to the Dominican Republic either by United States marines or by Cuban refugees, depending on who you ask. Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, who came to power in 1930, was a huge baseball fan and did much to popularize the game, including building the first baseball stadium in the country.

Today, baseball is big business in the Dominican Republic. It’s every boy’s dream to be just like Sammy Sosa, who went from being a shoeshine boy to a multimillionaire sports star. Many stars, including Sosa, still live in the Dominican Republic where they build mansions for themselves and their families. Almost 500 Dominicans have played in the major leagues, more than any other Latin American nation.

Major league teams have been accused in recent years of exploiting the economic conditions in the Dominican Republic. Scouts sign any kid with any potential at all to a minimum contract and send them to their team’s baseball academy, which is sort of like a boarding school. The players are clothed and fed, and practice almost constantly. But for every Sammy Sosa who makes it to the big leagues, there are hundreds of young Dominicans who spend their formative years in these camps and come out without a job and without an education. Major league teams, responding to criticism of this system, have improved the education at these camps.  

If you’re a baseball fan, you’ll definitely want to take in a game while you’re here. The baseball season, quite conveniently, from October to February, when American major league baseball is on break. Many pros, not all of them Dominican, take advantage of this fact, playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic to keep in shape. There are 6 teams spread out over the small country, so you’re never really that far from a game. The games are fun and rowdy, and the fans are as passionate about the game and their team as any you’ll find in New York or Boston.