Sugar Gets It Right on Domican Baseball Players

Last week, at the invitation of acclaimed film critic Jeffrey Lyons, I attended the screening of Sugar. The movie depicts the journey of a young Dominican ballplayer (Miguel "Sugar" Santos) from a baseball academy in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic to the minor leagues in the United States. The film makes it quite apparent that the writers, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, did extensive research in their effort to accurately portray what a Dominican player experiences in his quest to become a Major League Baseball player. What I saw on the screen that evening was as close to reality as one could see.

There are more than 1,700 Dominican players under contract to Major League baseball teams, including 129 Major League players and 1,635 young men who play in the Minor Leagues. The Dominican Republic has become the primary source of foreign talent for Major League teams. This is astounding given the fact that Ozzie Virgil became the first Dominican Major League player in 1956.

With this large influx of Dominican players comes a variety of issues that largely determine if the player will achieve his goal of one day becoming a Major Leaguer. Language and cultural issues are two critical challenges that players must confront in order to have a chance to succeed. Fortunately, all Major League teams have recognized the need to provide their Latino players with classes to learn the English language and other aspects of cultural assimilation. As an industry, Major League Baseball is fully cognizant of its social responsibility to its players in order to ensure that the Latino player has the same opportunity to succeed as any other aspiring Major League player.

A number of teams have gone as far as providing their players in the Dominican Republic an opportunity to obtain their high school degrees while at the same honing their baseball skills at their academies. Many of the players participating in this program have learned the importance of an education and how it can change their lives. Exercises in critical thinking have enabled them to become better players. The game of baseball requires the athlete to constantly make decisions and have an awareness of the circumstances relevant to each play. There is no doubt that the educated player is better prepared to succeed at baseball. More importantly, a player who has adjusted to his new circumstances is more likely to excel in life long after he has hung up his spikes.

There is little question that the growth of Latino players in Major League Baseball will continue over time. As the numbers rise, however, it is important to note that their contribution to the game should be measured in another way. Their special brand of passion for the game is remarkable, driving generations of fans in their home countries to follow their example.

Comments

[ADunafraid]

Lou,
How can you not mention the disparity in steroid use with Dominican Players as exhibited by positive tests?

In addition, I would argue that Latino players are not on the rise but either leveling off or diminishing since steroid testing began in MLB. Look at the statistical leaderboards from 2000-2005 and compare it to the last couple of years there is a dropoff in Dominican and Latino players since testing began.

[JustinAddison]

I know what you mean about the prevalence of steroid use among the Latino players. A friend of mine played college baseball and observed that most all of the Dominican and other Hispanic players were juicing, while virtually none of the Americans on that team were because it was small college ball far away from NCAA Division I. It does point out how desperate they were to pursue that dream against the odds though, and seems more respectable than the border crashers who are destroying much of our desert ecosystem and littering it with tons of garbage every year.

[masonp]

I do not like most baseball movies...b­ut i absolutely LOVED "Sugar."
it is the first film that details the Domincan baseball experience, and the first one that deals honestly with the realities of the modern baseball business.A­nd without question, it is THE BEST movie i have ever seen at depicting the travails of language barriers. A poignant, beautifully shot and really really well done film. When it comes to the movie biz, Bolden/Fleck and the producers of "Sugar" have shown they're ready for the Big Leagues.

[RobinSeattle]

So Lou, since you are the Vice-President of International Baseball Operations in the Office of the Commissioner for Major League Baseball, when are we going to see Asian faces in the broadcast booth during MLB games (we saw exactly zero during the so-called World Baseball Classic) and on MLB.com? How about on ESPN? Never has an Asian face been on a Baseball Tonight panel.

During the final MLB-NPB all star series in 2006, the two guys you had doing the broadcast for MLB.com were laughing about how they didn't know anything about the Japanese players nor did they know how to pronounce their names. One of those guys was Brian McRae, who should, as an African-American, been more sensitive to showing respect for other cultures since African-Americans are so quick to say that they get disrespected in MLB.

You guys have more work to do than just what you do with Latin players. How about some respect for our Asian brothers, too?