baseball became a symbol of resistance.
The Houston Astros are the 2022 World Series winners and more than half the players on this team are from outside the United States. Thirteen of them are from Latin America, with six of them coming from the Dominican Republic. This is particularly remarkable since the Dominican Republic makes up more than 10% of all players in the Major League Baseball across the country.
Baseball has a long history in the United States, with the first mention of the game being in 1786. The National League and the American League were organized in 1901, and Major League Baseball (MLB) was born. The first World Series was a major success, and baseball became a very profitable industry.
In the Dominican Republic, baseball also became a beloved pastime, with its roots tracing back to Cuba in the 1860s. Wealthy Cuban students who attended college in the United States brought the game back home with them, and it spread to the working class. With economic incentives, the game flourished and became a symbol of resistance against Spanish colonial rulers.
In the United States, teams played more and more games throughout the country, making baseball a million dollar industry. In Cuba, it became the most popular sport. In the Dominican Republic, baseball continues to be a beloved pastime and a source of pride. Cubans pushed back against their former colonizers by turning their love of baseball into a symbol of pride and nationalism. After Spain ceded control of Cuba to the US following the Spanish-American War, Americans became aware of the Cuban baseball talent and the MLB began signing Cuban players. By the late 1950s, 49 Cubans had been signed to the MLB, including household names such Minnie Miñoso and Luis Alomá.
Relations between the US and Cuba broke down in 1961 when Fidel Castro rose to power, leaving the MLB without access to Cuban talent. This created an opportunity for the Dominican Republic, which had a tumultuous relationship with the US due to an 8-year US military occupation. During the occupation, Dominicans played baseball against the US troops and often beat them. This imbued the game with a sense of pride and nationalism, and by the 1930s professional teams in the DR were drawing large crowds.
The US desegregation of baseball in the 1950s allowed the MLB to turn its full attention to the DR, signing outstanding Dominican players like Ozzie Virgil, the Alou Brothers, and Juan Marichal. To ensure access to more talent, the MLB began to employ local scouts, such as Epy Guerrero and Ralph Avila, who created baseball academies in the country. In 1987, Avila created an academy linked to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the MLB began signing more Dominican players, bringing thousands of fans to MLB games. The LA team invested millions in this academy, creating a formal process for Dominican players to end up on MLB teams. Dominican scouts identify new talent throughout the country, and hold tryouts where players showcase their skills. The most impressive players get a contract to train with the academy, and if they make it through training, they either sign a professional contract to continue training with a minor league team in the US, or make it to an MLB team. Only a small percentage of the trainees actually achieve the MLB dream, but that’s what happened with former pitcher Ramone Martinez, who went straight from the academy to playing for the LA Dodgers. Soon, other big teams set up academies that help them spot and train major players like Robinson Canó and Albert Pujols, who eventually became All-Stars. This pipeline of talent worked so well for the MLB that there are now 30 academies in the DR, one for each of the 30 MLB teams in the US. Since the beginning of the academy system, the MLB has signed hundreds of Dominican players, and the leading cities for this talent pipeline are the same as the ones where the sugar mill games were once played, with San Pedro right at the top.
The system has created an opportunity for top Dominican players to end up with the MLB, and they make millions now. However, no matter how far the Dominican players go, the MLB still signs them for less than some American players, so this is still a way for them to make massive profits in the US while giving foreign-born players cheaper contracts. The DR makes money off the academy system too, as the scouts help negotiate better contracts for the players but keep a massive cut for themselves at every turn. Overall, Dominican players bring in about $400 million per year in the Major League, and they send about half of that home. Plus, the academies bring in about $125 million a year, create more jobs, and the MLB spends millions maintaining them. There’s no question that after agriculture and tourism, baseball has become the third leading source of revenue for the country as a whole.
Before the Dominican players who helped generate so much of their profit, the system has a long way to go. Some Dominican All-Stars are starting to push for that change, using their fame in the MLB to ask for a system that works equally for players in both countries. To them, baseball is as much Dominican as it is American, and they are passionate about the game with a deep history and understanding of it. They are in positions of control, so it’s a battle between who controls the game.