Seeing real baseball

That would fill my heart to see also. There are fleeting moments of purity like that here, but it seems they are to often sandwiched between thick slices of drama.

Reminds me of when I was a kid all the neighborhood guys would head out in the morning and just play ball until it got dark. Those were the days my friend!!!!

Yeah me too!! We had a big field by the church in my neighborhood and we would use our dads mowers to cut out a diamond and if it went into the deep grass is was a 4 bagger.

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Piaa Ump...I beg to differ, this is not REAL baseball...


- No $300 bats?...

- Poor Field?...(Bad hops, rutted mound and liability. There were lawyers there, right?)...

- No private coaches?...(How are they ever to know the difference between rotational and linear swings?)...

- No quality umpires?...(Heavens, they have adjudicate their own disputes? Does that mean they have to learn the value of fair play and Golden Rule?)

- Playing LOCALLY?...(They'll never get any better playing locally. They should be traveling across the Caribbean to get top flight competition)...

- No marketing plan to get to the next level?... (letters? Emails? Video's? Wasting their time playing for fun, need to get to planning, researching...)

- No player rankings?

- NO PARENTS?!...(Speaks for itself)


Well, I guess it's pretty obvious why no one from the Dominican Republic ever makes it to the next level....

44
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I appreciate piaa ump's description and the feelings inspired. I too have spent time in the
Dominican Republic and my son participated in these "neighborhood" pickup games with the kids. Even at this level the kids take the development of their baseball skills very seriously. Many see baseball as their only chance of escaping the extreme poverty they live in. They play with the hopes of being selected to participate in one of the several MLB sponsored baseball camps on the island, MLB has quite the player development thing going on down there. There are over 300 MLB players from this very tiny nation. We brought and distributed baseball equipment as well, and even though some of the stuff was used these kids treated it like gold. There were no parents/adults around cause they were busy trying to eek out an existence for their families to survive. At least that was my experience. For whatever reason there is definetly a love of the game and they do enjoy playing. The MLB/MiLB players are considered heroes, many of whom return and help out in their communities.

I heard that playing under "poor" conditions actually develops better skills, being able to handle "bad" hops and such...

Kudos to those kids

On the other side of the coin.....

I eat breakfast at this place that only serves basic breakfast, no crepes, SOS is the special of the day, they close at noon, and let me tell you it's the best breakfast on the face of the Earth IMHO, because that's all they do. I wish they served lunch. I see a comparison to the DR baseball situation.

Sometimes it's a bit frustrating to hear of the "passion and commitment" of DR kids in comparison to the US kids. Granted, percentage wise DR may be sending more players to the next level, but Americans have an opportunity for sport diversity at many levels. Can you imagine if the US was a 1 sport country and our football, basketball, and all other athletes were all focused on baseball. WOW

On a similar note, I'll take that $300 dollar bat, quality field, private coaches, travel team experience, parents at games, showcases, over the alternative DR option. The good ol days were just that...today is today, and while we can all recollect, I for one will say that my kids have a better life with more opportunity than I did at their age. I miss some things, but I embrace much more. The DR kid who does not make it to the "bigs" will go on in a poverty stricken life and his kids will not see Dad behind the fence or posting message board opinions on educational opportunities.

So what is real baseball, the game "played within the lines" or is baseball "part of my fortunate life". I wouldn't want to jump into those DR shoes. It may look like "fun" but they still have to go home....if they have one. Baseball is but a small microcosm of the big picture.

As rz dives off the soapbox looking for cover.

I would love to see some pictures if you have 'em. I was there in '03 and the empty lots were just as you described, with boys playing 'the beisbol'.