thanks redhead..... don't know much about Old Sluuger - only that his posts are cryptic, disorganized, and negative. I sense a lot of rage and personal dissatisfaction. From what I gather on this post, it seems that he thinks South American players have a distinct advantage over our kids living in the USA.***cryptic......OK.......Ignorant 0%.....its about the debate, the opinions, but not necessarily mine.
I have been quoted many times here that all decisions are made on the field of play!!Period!!
The other side of the coin!!
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:uvQTnNXGMT4J:slam....n&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=7
Latin American 'boot camps' no guarantee
By BOB ELLIOTT -- Toronto Sun
Tony Fernandez made it.
So, did Kelvim Escobar and Junior Felix.
They wore major-league uniforms, as did Domingo Ramos, Luis Sojo, Sandy Martinez and Domingo Cedeno.
But what happens to other players from Latin America who sign after July 1, when they are 17, but are out of minor-league ball after three or four years?
Arturo J. Marcano Guevera knows and the Indiana University graduate has written about the hardships facing those who try to make it from the day they enter a baseball academy and about those who don't make it.
Guevera, along with David P. Fidler, wrote Stealing Lives, The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz.
Guevera taught sports law at the University of Massachsuetts last year. He and his wife, Mary Ann, are living in Etobicoke where they've resided for most of the past nine years.
"Teams over-sign players and send them to academies in the Dominican and Venezuela," Guevera said this week at the Rogers Centre.
It's similar to overbooking a flight. Except if you make the flight, something is guaranteed in return. Academies are like boot camps, with very little to handle the basics such as a sore elbow or shoulder.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
"This has led to great social problems in Latin America," the author says. "Young boys give up schooling, give up everything to chase a dream not everyone realizes. After being released they come home without an education and can't find work."
In North America, teams offer a high schooler or a collegian a signing bonus, plus a schooling package for when his career is over. That does not happen in Latin America.
"The whole thrust of the book is that it is possible to play baseball and get an education, too," he says of his campaign to raise awareness. "So many players see baseball as the only way out of poverty. They are pushed by families and scouts to play baseball, to be the next Sammy Sosa or Pedro Martinez."
Guevera doesn't like the inequity of the average signing bonus for drafted players in North America, which averages $15,000-$17,000 US in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico. In Latin America, free agents sign for an average of $5,000-$8,000, or so the book claims.
Of the 822 majors leaguers on opening day rosters, 27.9% were foreign born. Of the 6,568 minor leaguers, 45% were foreign born. The Dominican Republic leads with 1,463 players, followed by Venezuela (831), Puerto Rico (114), Mexico (95), Australia (85) and Canada (82).
Respected baseball expert Milton Jamail is quoted as saying: "There is not a kid in the Caribbean who reaches his 14th birthday without being seen by a major-league team."
If it's tough enough for veteran scouts to project a college pick at age 21, how easy can it be for buscons -- or searchers -- to look at a 14-year-old and do the same?
The book traces the story of Quiroz, of Venezuela, who signed with the Chicago Cubs, was sent to the Dominican summer league, injured his left shoulder, was then taken to a storage room and a trainer stomped on his shoulder to get it back in place. Quiroz incurred $7,694 in medical bills after being released.
"At the academy, Alex was paid $750 a month, but $300 of that went back to the Cubs for room and board," he says. "I've read where Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees has been asked about academies. He said if he had attended one, he probably wouldn't have made it."
Seeing former major leaguers such as Tony Pena and Ozzie Guillen send their sons to U.S. schools, Guevera hopes some are seeing the light and combining baseball and school. But not everyone has a father who played in the majors.
Former Major League Baseball CEO Sandy Alderson used to talk about "the great humanitarian works MLB was undertaking in Latin America."
MLB should first start by treating players like humans, not cattle.
**** no Shrinks need apply**** THERE IS NO ANGER