In addition, all 30 Major League teams now run these "baseball academies," which provide teenage boys with coaching, baseball fundamentals, uniforms, equipment, education, dormitories and even good nutrition. If he makes it to the majors, that money also makes life more bearable for an extended group of family and friends, Ruck said. 1 (2003): 263-87. For most poor and working-class young Dominican men, they can find work as a factory laborer or in hotels or restaurants that serve the tourism industry, said Dr. Adrian Burgos, director of graduate studies and professor of history at the University of Illinois with a special focus on U.S. Latino history and sports history, in an interview. The Path to the Sugar Mill or the Path to Millions: MLB Baseball 26 Spagnuolo, Swinging for the Fence, 273. Obviously, Guerrero has made a sizable impact on the local economy but measuring such efforts proves elusive. .12 MLB organizations could obtain and train players for a tiny price compared to the cost in the US.13 Teams prefer[ed] to sign twenty Dominicans at $5,000 apiece, rather than only two Americans at $50,000 each.14 By opening day 2015 the D.R. It's somewhat analogous to the scenario in the inner cities of the U.S., where young African-Americans now favor NBA and NFL to baseball.. Owners of big businesses like sugar refineries funded the construction of these fields to benefit from the games. This article gives an in-depth examination of the road to the academy. . Alfano, Peter. In the early 1900s, the Dominicans established the Dominican Professional Baseball League, a stepping stone for a milestone in Dominican baseball history: Ozzie Virgil became the first Dominican-born player to play for a major league team in the United States in 1956 when he debuted for the New York Giants.7 From the 1950s to late 1960s, much . 31 Fred Guerrero, e-mail interview by the author, January 27, 2016. Critics of the academy system believe that MLBs presence in the Dominican Republic took an educational toll on Dominican boys. Currently, only the Arizona Diamondbacks academy provides players with the chance to finish high school and receive a formal education.36 In Children Left Behind, Adam Wasch argues that MLBs operation in the D.R. Among these players were baseball stars James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell and Satchel Paige. Unfortunately, this attempt failed due to the lack of cooperation of the trainers. Although Epy Guerrero passed away in 2013, his legacy will be remembered as the man who opened up the exploration of Dominican talent and laid the foundation for todays MLB academies.21.
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