Dominican baseball non-profits: Boston teen takes part in Lindos Suenos program

Like a number of MLB players and teams, the Red Sox are very active in signing Dominican free agents and developing them into big league players. The team is also active in giving back to the Dominican Republic.

They run a non-profit program called Lindos Suenos, or beautiful dreams. The program pairs Boston area teens with Dominican teens in an effort to repair and rebuild houses in Dominican communities. Each year ten Boston teens and ten Dominican teens are paired up and live at a Dominican resort for a couple weeks. In the mornings they rebuild houses and in the afternoons they play baseball at the Red Sox Dominican baseball academy.

American teen Austin Rubino recently participated in the program and says that he went down to learn about Dominican baseball, but mainly to help people. “Definitely working on the homes, that’s the main reason I wanted to be down there, to help these people out,” said Rubino.

The group did get to play some baseball though. They played against other MLB teams’ academy programs as well as a team representing Santo Domingo.

There have been a number of college or church groups get together similar mission work/baseball playing trips, but this is the first program of this nature that the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen put together by an MLB team. It is a great effort by the Red Sox to give back to the Dominican community in which they have a Dominican baseball academy. More teams should follow their lead and have similar programs.

Father and son donate baseball equipment to Dominican baseball players

The Dominican Baseball Guy has blogged on Dominican Baseball charities a number of times. There are several major leaguers that have charitable organizations that contribute to Dominican baseball and there are some non-profits that contribute to Dominican baseball.

In this case, a father and a son have taken it upon themselves to deliver equipment to Dominican baseball players in need. The Lakeland, Florida father-son duo, Sean and Ryan McEnroe visited the Dominican Republic on Spring Break and saw the need Dominican baseball players have for equipment in the Dominican Republic.

Ryan was exciting and happy to share the equipment:

They knew right away what to do with it. They started throwing the balls around. Up here (in the US) everyone wants a certain kind of bat, but down there, they were just happy to have a bat.

No doubt, kids know what to do with the equipment. One of the reasons Dominican baseball players are so good is that many of them grow up playing with rocks, sticks, and milk cartons for gloves. When they finally get 'real' equipment the game is easy for them.

There is certainly plenty of need for baseball equipment in the Dominican Republic. I throw whatever extra equipment I may have in my bag every time I go down, and just give it to kids I meet in the streets or at games. So, if you visit the Dominican Republic takes a few gloves and give them away. Every bit helps. Or better yet, do what the McEnroes did and take down a bunch of equipment.

Ryan McEnroe delivers equipment to Dominican baseball players, photo by the McEnroes