Word: dominicans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Umpiring became an international crisis last week, when George Bell, a Toronto outfielder from the Dominican Republic, implied that baseball did not want a truly World Series and was conspiring against the Canadian semifinalist, which once employed a Canadian player. Nobody knows yet whether Arkansan Lloyd Moseby caught or trapped a crucial ball in centerfield, but that call and four or five other dubious ones went against Toronto. "If our ball club was American . . ." Bell grumbled three days before the Blue Jays finished squandering their 3-1 lead over Kansas City, thereby missing this week's date with St. Louis...
...hardscrabble Dominican town, major league baseball play...
...first 20-game winner, was sitting in Dodger Stadium watching Los Angeles Outfielder Pedro Guerrero taking batting practice. Andujar's thoughts about the perennial .300 hitter went beyond the manicured Los Angeles diamond back to the rocky fields of San Pedro de Macoris, a hardscrabble town in the Dominican Republic where, as a teenager, he had first hurled fastballs and curves to Guerrero. Both Andujar, 32, and Guerrero, 29, are the sons of sugarmill workers, and there was little money. But, the pitcher recalls, "we found a rubber ball and a piece of wood for a bat and played with...
...number of outstanding Dominican players--including future Hall of Fame Pitcher Juan Marichal, Rico Carty and the three Alou brothers, Felipe, Jesus and Matty--went off to the U.S. and major league success. Impressed, the Dominican government built three professional-quality parks on the island, one of them in San Pedro. Today the town draws youngsters from other communities who move there to play on San Pedro's 200 teams...
Four major league clubs--the Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros--now run permanent baseball camps in San Pedro. Says New York Mets Scouting Director Joe McIlvaine, whose staff keeps tabs on Dominican boys as young as 14: "If we get calls from San Pedro and another town there, we give the boy from San Pedro the first look." In 1984 the recruiting rules were tightened to protect young players; scouts who once signed athletic teenagers at first glance on the streets of San Pedro must now obtain proof that the boys are at least 17. Still...