Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting to First Base
The origin of baseball in the DR is intertwined with the beginnings of the sugar industry,
first in Cuba and later in the DR. Around the same time that American business ambitions
were directed toward the Caribbean, particularly Cuba, baseball was being established in
the states. When Cuban plantation owners fled their country during a failed war of inde-
pendence in 1868, they brought with them their passion for the game, which they learned
from the Americans (where and when the game was originally established is open for dis-
pute).
Workers from the English-speaking Caribbean who were brought to the DR to work in
the cane fields were already skilled cricket players, bringing a familiarity with the general
concepts of batting, pitching and fielding. With few leisure activities available, plant own-
ers encouraged baseball rather than cricket and organized competitive teams into a 'sugar
league.' Cubans, Americans and Dominicans in Santo Domingo, La Vega and near Santi-
ago also formed their own teams.
But it was the US embargo of Cuba that began in 1962 (as well as free agency that began
in the 1970s) that really accelerated the recruitment of Dominican players, since fewer
Cubans were willing to defect - a requirement imposed by the government. Major-league
scouts turned to other Caribbean countries, including the DR, to pick up the slack and
Dominicans, unlike Puerto Ricans who are American citizens, were not subject to draft
rules at the time.
Santiago's baseball team was originally named 'Sandino' in honor of Augusto César Sandino,
the Nicaraguan guerrilla leader who resisted the US invasion forces. After Trujillo came to
power he forced the team to change its name to Aguilas Cibeanas.
 
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