Word: pedro
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...journey of two local boys to the big leagues would be the talk of any other town. But in San Pedro (pop. 123,000), theirs are just two of many tales. For while San Pedro turns out a respectable amount of sugar, it refines ballplayers in unrivaled numbers. No other community of its size anywhere has produced so many big league players--some 270 in the past 15 years. A dozen Macoristas are currently playing in the majors, and about 140 more are on minor league teams...
...Pedro is a sleepy town, and there is little to do," explains Oakland A's Shortstop Alfredo Griffin. "Baseball is the big thing." But what makes Macoristas so good at the game? "It's the good weather," suggests Atlanta Braves Caribbean Scout Pedro Gonzales, who was born there. "It could be the water or the diet. No one knows," says Cleveland Indians President Peter Bavasi, whose Macorista shortstop, Julio Franco, 24, went into last weekend hitting .294. Says Franco simply: "People are poor. They want to play ball." Still, the town has no corner on poverty, sunshine or major league...
...south coast 40 miles from Santo Domingo, San Pedro began work on its two main export crops, sugar and baseball talent, more or less simultaneously. At the turn of the century, the game was cultivated by newly arrived American owners of the sugar mills, who sponsored company teams in local competition. The mill workers were good players, in part, it is said, because wielding machetes in the cane fields had strengthened their arms. Ensuing years of team rivalry and the 1916-24 occupation by U.S. Marines helped make America's national pastime San Pedro's major social activity...
...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...