Juan Marichal is best Latin pitcher of all-time, Dominicano Juan Marichal es el mejor lanzador latino en la historia del MLB

The Dominican Baseball Guy is happy to blog that the top two pitchers on the MLB.com list of Top 5 Latin pitchers are both Dominican.  As the Dominican Baseball Guy blogged yesterday, Pedro Martinez was voted the second best Latin pitcher of all-time.

And today, the voters announced the top Latin pitcher of all-time, and the honoree is Juan Marichal.

Marichal won 191 in the 1960s, more than Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Don Drysdale.  He went on to win 243 games, and is probably most well known by baseball laymen for his trademark high leg kick, as pictured below.  O, and just to show how big of pansies modern day pitchers are, Marichal pitched 243 complete games and won 25 games in a season three times

He is also known for the Roseboro incident in which he hit opposing catcher John Roseboro in the head with a bat.  This incident and the fallout has been mythologized in a play.  However, luckily the incident did not define his career in the long term.

Baseball analysts and historians agree, he was the greatest Latin pitcher of all-time.  Baseball historian Rob Ruck says, "the greatest right-hander of his era," Ruck said, "at a time when there were great pitchers to be found."

And Marichal's peers and countrymen agree too.  According to Indians manager and native Dominican Manny Acta: "he was on top of the list. He was the guy."

Juan was elected to the National  Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983, and he remains the only Dominican player to have that honor.  See his Hall of Fame profile.

He is still beloved by Giants fans and memorialized in a statue in front of the Giant's San Francisco home.

He is from Laguna Verde, DR, and he took a simple approach to the game, perhaps drawn from his life in the Dominican Republic:

I have five pitches. Fast ball, change, curve, slider, screwball. I don't know any hitters. Catcher, he tells me what to do. I can get any pitch I want over the plate.

Juan Marichal statue in San Francisco, by sporst on Flickr

Whose your daddy? Pedro Martinez named 2nd best all-time Latin pitcher, Pedro Martinez el segundo lanzador Latino de todo tiempo

So, apparently this is Hispanic Heritage Month.  And in a salute to this, MLB.com conducted a poll of the greatest Latino pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball.  Only retired pitchers were considered.  They have been announcing one of the top five each day.

Thus far, they have announced Fernando Valenzuela (Mexico), Dennis Martinez (Nicaragua), and Luis Tiant (Cuba).  And then today they released the number two greatest Latin pitcher of all-time, and the honoree is Pedro Martinez.

It is no secret, Pedro is one of the reasons that the Dominican Baseball Guy came into being.  The Dominican Baseball Guy saw him perform in his prime.  He is probably the best combination of performance and entertainment that the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen in any ball player.  No need to dicuss stats with Pedro, but he led his league in Ks three times, ERA five times, and wins once.

Peter Gammons says:

"He was the most dominating pitcher of all time in a span of seven years and the most exciting player I have ever seen." 

And the Dominican Baseball Guy heard Dan Patrick saying today on his radio show today that Pedro's 1999 season could be put up with the bext seasons of any pitcher of all-time, and that Pedro should have won the MVP along with the Cy Young that year.

Pedro is so revered among baseball fans that his picture was put on permanent display in the Smithsonian National Picture Gallery.  In the experience of the Dominican Baseball Guy, Pedro is probably the most popular Dominican player in his home country (current or retired) at the moment.  And that is saying a lot.

So, it is a well deserved honor that he was named the second greatest Latin MLB pitcher of all-time.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has a pretty good idea as to who the number one all-time Latin pitcher will be.  Think San Francisco Giants and Dominican.

Pedro is from Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic.

Pedro Martinez having fun with the Mets, by UCInternational

Dominican Luis Terrero wins MVP of Mexican Baseball League, Dominicano gana jugador más valioso de la Liga Mexicana de Béisbol

Liga Mexicana de Béisbol (LMB) or the Mexican Baseball League is considered by most to be in the top 5 leagues in the world.  It is made of independent teams throughout central and eastern Mexico.  The league is endorsed and affiliated with Major League Baseball as an official minor league, however, the teams that make up the league are not affiliated with MLB teams, as are the minor league teams stateside.

This unique relationship actually means that it is probably a higher level of baseball in the Mexican League, because the teams play to win and not to develop players.  This is much as the case is with the Dominican League of Winter Baseball.  So, along with the NIPON profesional league in Japan, and the Venezuelan and Mexican winter leagues, this AAA Mexican Baseball League and the LIDOM are the of the top leagues in the world.  The Dominican Baseball Guy commented on the top baseball leagues in the world a while back.

A number of big name stars have played in the LMB towards the end of there careers, most notably in terms of Dominican players the great Julio Franco.

And, to get to the point of this blog post!  Dominican Luis Terrero was named the MVP of the Mexican Baseball League today.  Check out these silly numbers: .390 average, 38 home runs, and 110 RBI in just 97 games.  Yea, the Dominican Baseball Guy thinks the pitching down there may not be up to the level of an ex-MLB guy like Terrero.  He spent three years in the majors from 2003-07 with the Diamondbacks, Orioles, and White Sox.  See Luis Terrero minor league baseball page.

Terrero is from Barahona and Franco is from San Pedro de Macoris.

Peloterro Dominicano Luis Terrero, by javYliz on Flickr

Marines playing baseball with Dominican kids, ninos Dominicanos jugando pelota

The Dominican Baseball Guy came across this photo on his google alerts for Dominican baseball news, and what a shot it is:

American BI's play baseball with Dominican kids, from US National Archives

The shot was taken in 1965 during the US occupation of the Dominican Republic.  The occupation was ordered by President LBJ as he feared a "second Cuba on America's doorstep."  The USA also occupied the country from 1916-1924 with plans to make it a protectorate.  

There were early theories that the Americans brought the game during the first of these occupations.  Nowadays, most agree that the Aloma brothers from Cuba brought the game to the island around the turn of the century.  However, there are many stories of classic games between the USA military and Dominican teams during both of these occupations, and these troops surely influenced the game on the island through these organized games and pickup games such as in the picture here.

The picture comes from the US National Archives and the Dominican Baseball Guy will be scouring the archives for more photos like this one.

History of the Estadio Quisqueya

The Dominican Baseball Guy is going to continue a series of blog posts that he started at the beginning of the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) season last year.  They will be on the history of Dominican Baseball, with a focus on the teams and stadiums.  The first two posts on Dominican Baseball History were the History of the Gigantes del Cibao and the History of the LIDOM.  The Dominican Baseball Guy also included a post with several important books that have a histories of Dominican Baseball.

The Quisqueya Stadium is the most important sporting place in the Dominican Republic.  It is in Santo Domingo and is home to the Licey Tigers and the Ecogido Lions, the two most prominent and longest standing teams in the country.  The stadium was the dream of longtime dictator Rafael Trujillo and inaugurated on October 23, 1955.  Trujillo is not usually seen as a favorable ruler as his regime was characterized by an iron fist, but he did maintain order and brought progress in infrastructural development.  And he loved baseball.

Quisqueya has been the Cathedral of baseball in the Dominican Republic and has hosted 50 plus games nearly every year since the first game in 1955.  Everyone in the country knows this stadium and it is the dream of most young players to play here, even more so than in the big leagues because their friends and family can see them play in the Quisqueya.

Last May, the federal government set forth to redevelop the stadium and surrounding area.  They will be adding 10,000 seats to make the capacity nearly 25,000, and they will be updating locker rooms and all the guest facilities.  Additionally, they plan to develop the area around the stadium and build apartments, a luxury hotel, and retail outlets.  The new area will be named after Juan Marichal, the only Dominican in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.  He is from Laguna Verde, DR.

You can see a complete history at the Licey website here.  Great place to see a game, and it will be even better when this renovation is complete!

Dominican Baseball Books

Being that I am an anthropologist, I have read a number of "academic" studies on Dominican baseball, as well as tons of popular stuff. It is kind of funny when Dominicans try to tell me about the history of the league or the team. I just act interested and let them tell me what they know (usually the most basic information). As an anthropologist, I am particularly interested in the culture of baseball, and how it affects the lives of people. I have created a list of these books on the right.

Alan Klein has been publishing on international baseball and culture for over 20 years. He is a professor of sociology-anthropology at Northeastern University. His book Sugarball: The American Game, The Dominican Dream, was one of the first academic studies of baseball that I read. He recently published Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball, which has one chapter devoted to baseball in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, he has published many other books and articles on international aspects of baseball. They are listed on his curriculum vitae. His book Baseball on the Border: A Tale of Two Laredos, was also interesting to me, especially since I am from South Texas.

Rob Ruck is a history professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He wrote The Topic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic, a comprehensive history of baseball in the country. He has also published on black sports in Pittsburgh, and helped write the documentary The Republic of Baseball: The Dominican Giants of the American Game. A list of his publications is also listed on his curriculum vitae.

George Gmelch is also an anthropology professor at Union College in New York. His publications are listed at his website, and cover many aspects of baseball. He was actually a minor league player before gaining his PhD. in anthropology. He edited Baseball without Borders: The International Pastime, which has a chapter devoted to Dominican Baseball.

George Gedda just published Dominican Connection: Talents From Tropics Changes Face of National Pastime. He is a diplomatic journalist from the DC area, so it is interesting tht he published this. I have not read this, so will not be listing it with my other books.

Historia de los Gigantes del Cibao

This is the official historia de los Gigantes del Cibao, as espoused by the official team website:

At the start of the season of professional baseball in the Dominican Republic in the year 1995, the Dominican League of Professional Baseball informed that next year there was the possibility to create another tax exemption for a baseball franchise to expand the league, which only had five teams at the time: Aguilas Cibaenas, Leones del Escogido, Tigres del Licey, the Bulls of La Romana, and The Eastern Stars of San Pedro de Macoris.

This is when a group of Francomacorisanos, led by former major league player Julian Javier took steps to get the nomination of a franchise for this city. The directors of the Regional Development Council accompanied Julian Javier: Dr. Jose Anibal Garcia, Mr. Abraham Abukarma and Dr. Isocrates Peña. These individuals formed a committee to get the long awaited dream of a team in San Fransisco de Macoris. Lawyer Siquió NG de la Rosa joined this committee as the first president of the club, and later they got the necessary partners to invest in this project, thus far unattainable due to economic and the organizational shortfalls.
To operate this franchise, the company had to create Northeast Baseball Club, which has 34 founding members from different provinces of the region. Among those are: Carlos Eliseo Negrin, Celso Ventura, Miguel Angel Almanzar, Rafael Almanzar, Jose Adolfo Herrera, Bienvenido Herrera Khoury, and other partners nearby cities.

It was the hard and persistent work of this committee, that on April 15, 1996 they were granted permission to operate the team, and immediately began to restore the old Julian Javier stadium, to put it in the best condition to play. The first name was: Giants of the Northeast, on the understanding of regional integration, planted by the managers of those years.

The first three years of operation of the team it was the Dominican Professional Baseball League that guided and advised the team of the steps to be followed for the proper functioning of the youngest team of the institution.

In the year 1999, due to a disastrous season where the team broke the record for least games won (9-51), controlling shareholders decided to sell the team. That's how it passed into the hands of Dr. Julio Hazim, who immediately renamed it Chickens of the Cibao, remaining the same for two years. In the first season under Dr. Hazim the stadium Julian Javier got roofing and bleachers, and drainage was fixed. After two years a new ownership group bought the team, who decided to return to the previous name, no longer the Giants of the Northeast, but Giants of the Cibao.

The name Gigantes del Cibao responds to the policy of the new presidency: to integrate all the Cibao, especially children and youth, so that they may give their support to the team, which is still the youngest in the league.

Yea the Dominican Baseball Guy knows, kind of wordy, probably because it is translated directly from the Spanish. To summarize the historia de los Gigantes del Cibao, this will be the team's fourteenth year of existence, after being founded in 1996. Ownership has changed hands several times. The stadium is named after Julian Javier, a native of the city, who had a distiguished baseball career in the MLB, as well as a long career in the Dominican Winter Baseball League. A number of the founders and committee members throughout the founding process are still with the team in varying capacities. The current president is Laurentino Genao and several of his family members work in various capacities in the front office as well.

Julian Javier Stadium, by Dominican Baseball Guy

Their goal as a team is to represent all of the Cibao. This is the central valley of the Dominican Republic. There is one problem I see with this vision and that is that another team, with a long and distinguished history also resides in the Cibao, that being the Aguilas of Santiago. However, according to Juan Mercado, Communications Director, they have a number of fans from other cities in the Cibao, and a number of younger people pledge their support to los Gigantes over the Aguilas, being that they are a younger team. And that is the historia de los Gigantes del Cibao up to this point.

Dominican Winter Baseball League is one of tops in world, Historia de LIDOM

The Dominican Baseball Guy is in the Dominican Republic to follow the 2009-2010 Dominican Winter Baseball League. Covering Dominican baseball is overwhelming.

There are pickup games, youth teams and leagues everywhere, training academies run by Dominicans, the majority of Major League clubs have Dominican baseball academies here, there is the Dominican Summer League (a rookie league run by Major League clubs), there are all the Dominicans in the big leagues, Dominican prospects and minor leaguers, and there is the Dominican Winter Baseball League aka LIDOM.

The Dominican Baseball Guy is the Gigantes del Cibao throughout this season in the Dominican Republic Winter Baseball League. The history of the Dominican Winter Baseball League is a long and storied one.

The LIDOM is one of the better baseball leagues in the world, probably only surpassed by Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan (NPB). The other top winter baseball leagues are the Mexican Pacific League, the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, and the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. The champions of these four leagues face off in the Caribbean World Series each year.

The consensus seems to be that the Dominican League is the best of these four, and only surpassed by MLB and NPB.. The Dominican Baseball Guy bases this assumption on a number of assertions. First, Dominican teams have won eleven of the previous twenty Caribbean Series, and the most overall at seventeen. This is kind of arbitrary given that the Caribbean Series is only six games for each team, but nonetheless, it is a very high number.

Second, each of these four leagues places limits on the number of imported players each team can have, so the teams are made up almost exclusively of players from these countries. A statistical analysis of minor league and major league players and their place of birth could be a major undertaking, but it has been obvious throughout the history of the game, and especially in the last twenty years, that more players have come out of the Dominican Republic than any country besides the USA. This being the case, the Dominican Winter League has a larger pool of players to draw from than the leagues in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.

Lastly, The Dominican Baseball Guy argues that the history of the Dominican Winter Baseball League is more prestigious than the other three leagues. This league has been around in some form since the 1920s and in its current form as the LIDOM since 1951. While the other three leagues associated with the Caribbean Series have also been around since the 1940s, the quality and depth of players in the Dominican Winter Baseball League has been far superior. Virtually every Dominican major leaguer played in this league at some point, including Miguel Tejada, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Albert Pujols, even Alex Rodriguez.

There are summer and winter leagues in several other countries, but they are undoubtedly looking up at the leagues mentioned here.


The Gigantes are one team in this very good baseball league, and they are in the city of San Fransisco de Macoris. The other teams are los Leones de Escogido in Santo Domingo, los Tigres del Licey in Santo Domingo, los Aguilas in Santiago, the Bulls of La Romana, and the Eastern Stars of San Pedro de Macoris.

The LIDOM logo