The intriguing, inspiring history of one small,
impoverished area in the Dominican Republic that has
produced a staggering number of Major League Baseball
talent, from an award-winning, bestselling author.
In the town of San Pedro in the Dominican Republic,
baseball is not just a way of life. It's the way of
life. By the year 2008, seventy-nine boys and men from San
Pedro have gone on to play in the Major Leagues-that means
one in six Dominican Republicans who have played in the
Majors have come from one tiny, impoverished region. Manny
Alexander, Sammy Sosa, Tony Fernandez, and legions of other
San Pedro players who came up in the sugar mill teams
flocked to the United States, looking for opportunity,
wealth, and a better life.
Because of the sugar
industry, and the influxes of migrant workers from across
the Caribbean to work in the cane fields and factories, San
Pedro is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the
Dominican Republic. A multitude of languages are spoken
there, and a variety of skin colors populate the community;
but the one constant is sugar and baseball. The history of
players from San Pedro is also a chronicle of racism in
baseball, changing social mores in sports and in the
Dominican Republic, and the personal stories of the many men
who sought freedom from poverty through playing ball. The
story of baseball in San Pedro is also that of the Caribbean
in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and on a broader
level opens a window into our country's history.
As
with Kurlansky's Cod and Salt, this small
story, rich with anecdote and detail, becomes much larger
than ever imagined. Kurlansky reveals two countries' love
affair with a sport and the remarkable journey of San Pedro
and its baseball players. In his distinctive style, he
follows common threads and discovers wider meanings about
place, identity, and, above all, baseball.
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