Dominican baseball dancers: Bailarinas de Estrellas Orientales

For the first time on the Dominican Baseball Guy blog, I have for you the dancers of the Estrellas de San Pedro de Macoris. Now the dancers from Licey and Escogido in Santo Domingo, and even the Aguilas in Santiago are employed throughout the whole season. The other three teams have to import dancers from the other big cities, and they may only have the budget to employ the Dominican baseball dancers for late in the season or just the playoffs. So, do not expect dancer at every baseball game in the Dominican Republic, but they should be at most.

This video is not as clear the footage of the Dominican baseball dancers from Licey, but you get the gist of what it means to have dancers at a baseball game. Think the ring girls and girls dancing outside the ring at boxing matches and MMA events. They are closer to that than they are to American football cheerleaders.

Without further ado, here are the Dominican baseball dancers from the Estrellas Orientales in San Pedro de Macoris:

Dominican Cheerleaders, Bailarinas de Licey

It is time for one of the Dominican Baseball Guy's most popular updates, Dominican Cheerleaders.

So, the first Dominican cheerleader updates featured cheerleaders from Escogido.  Just so you know that every team has cheerleaders, today's update will feature a couple videos of the Licey cheerleaders performing during a game. Funny thing is these videos look like they were filmed by a player, or at least someone in the dugout.

Dodgers Tommy Lasorda gets a statue at the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame, Tommy Lasorda tiene estatua in Salon de Fama de Beisbol Latino

Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda recently got a statue at the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame in La Romana, Dominican Republic.  See the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame website here: http://www.salondelafamadelbeisbollatino.com/.

Lasorda is well known in baseball circles as being friendly to Latin players and a huge fan of Latin baseball.  He was a founding member of the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame, so it is natural that they gave him a statue.  Lasorda's  most significant contribution to Latin baseball is probably the 1973 Caribbean Series, in which he led Tigres del Licey to the title.  The team set a mark for the best record ever in the series at 5-1.

He now serves as the Latino Hall of Fame's Goodwill Abasodor and is a Special Advisor to the Chairman of the Dodgers.  He has been with the Dodgers for six decades.

Tommy Lasorda in 2010 Spring Training appearance with the Dodgers, by SD Dirk on Flickr

LIDOM Champions Escogido has victory parade, Campeones LIDOM Escogido tiene desfile de victoria

As all the followers of the Dominican Baseball Guy well know, Escogido won the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) championship last week.  And like any major sports franchise, they had a parade to celebrate the accomplishment with their fans.

Players and management made their way through the capital of the Dominican Republic and the home city of Escogido, Santo Domingo.  The team started the parade at the famous Quisqueya Studium, the home stadium of both Escogido and Licey, and the parade traveled throughout the capital city.  They ended the parade at the Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto where entertainment featured reggaeton singer Secret and the Los Hermanos Rosarios merengue group.

The desfile de Escogido certainly looked like a great time.  See Escogido General Manager Moises Alou celebrating and the best photo roll of the Escogido parade.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy's favorite image of the parade comes from one of the Dominican Republic's major dailies, the Diario Libre:

Dominican Winter Baseball League Playoffs 2010-11

The Dominican Winter Baseball League Playoffs (LIDOM) are underway.  They have a really cool playoff system.  The Dominican Baseball Guy put up a post about the LIDOM playoff system last year. Briefly, the top 4 of 6 teams make the playoffs and play a 15 game round robin, then the top two teams play a 9 game final series and the winner of that goes to the Caribbean Series.

This year Escogido, Toros, Estrellas, and Gigantes made the round robin.  The two traditional power houses of the league, Licey and Aguilas, missed the playoffs.  This is a major story as Licey and Aguilas are like the Red Sox and Yankees of the LIDOM.  It is a very rare year that both miss the playoffs.

The teams are 5 games into the round robin and all within 1 game of each other (see the standings).  This is a great time to see a game in the Dominican Republic.  The crowds are very big during these playoff series and the atmosphere is great.  Here is the schedule: if you will be in the country try and catch a game.

The economy in the country is not the best right now, so the crowds are not as big as they have been in years past, and the Aguilas and Licey games draw the biggest crowds, but here is an old picture from a Licey vs. Aguilas game, so you get the jest.  The games this year should have a great atmosphere too.

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 Card #13 and #14: Willy Mo Pena and Jose Offerman

The Dominican Baseball Guy missed the last baseball card update due to Thanksgiving and all the updates he was doing regarding the 2010 All-Dominican Team and other end of year awards.  So here are two cards to finish off the month.

First off is a Willy Mo Pena card.  This is a 2007 Topps, believed to be part of a team collection because it is numbered BOS5.  They are pretty cool, glossy cards, that are heavy in weight.  The Dominican Baseball Guy likes them a lot.

From 2002-2008 Willy played with the Reds, Red Sox, and Nationals.  He has always had lots of power, hitting 77 HRs and 225 RBI in those eight big league years.  Willy played part of the 2009 season for the Mets AAA team, and then played most of 2010 with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Independent Atlantic League.  Last summer, the Padres signed him to a minor league deal, so he could be in the big leagues next year at some point.

Willy has played for the Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Winter Baseball League for many years.  Last season, he won the final Player of the Week Award in the Dominican Baseball Winter League, as the Dominican Baseball Guy blogged.  As far as I can tell, he has not played in the winter league this year, which is suprising considering all the success he has had in previous years.  Willy is from Lagunda Salada, DR.

The #14 Dominican Baseball Card is a Jose Offerman 1991 Bowman #182.  These are perhaps some of the most boring cards ever, but it is a Dominican Baseball Card, so it is worth a blog.

Jose had a productive major league career in 15 MLB season.  He played 1600 games and made two All-Star teams, with the Dodgers in 1995 and the Red Sox in 1999.  Jose also had a successful career with Licey in the Dominican Winter Baseball League.  He won some domestic championships and Caribbean Series titles with Licey, then went on the manage them in 2008-2009.

His career ended with two incidents.  The first happened while he played in the Atlantic Independent League, in which he charged the mound with a bat.  He never played in the states after this incident.  The second incident occurred during the 2009 Dominican Winter League, in which he punched an umpire and was banned for life.  So, guess his career is probably over, since he is banned for life from two leagues, and probably has little shot of a return to MLB or the minors.  Jose is another from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.

Dominican Winter Baseball League: Gigantes lose, Mark Wagner Homers, Quisqueya Stadium

10/21/09 Game-
Wednesday night, the Gigantes lost another one, 4-1 to Licey.

This was at the Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. This is the most revered stadium in the country, home to both Ecogido and Licey. It has an amazing history, and was inaugurated on October 25, 1955. It has hosted nearly all of the major national and international competitions in the Dominican Republic since it was founded.

The Quisqueya, as it is known, is a much more modern operation than the stadiums in Santiago and San Fransisco de Macoris, probably because they are able to draw more fans in the capital. It has Burger King, Pizza Hut, and appears more like a North American stadium. It also seemed to have a larger, more knowledgeable crowd than the other stadiums.

The Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo

As for the game, the Gigantes Mark Wagner hit a solo home run for their only run of the game. Like many catchers, his offensive numbers are not that impressive, but his value is probably in the field. Estarlin de los Santos extended his hit streak to 4 games to start the season, and had some good plays in the field. He is also very fast up the first base line, and almost beat out a grounder last night that had no business being close.

For Licey, Yordanny Ramírez hit a two run home run. Ramirez is in the Astros organization and spent last year in AAA ball.

The Gigantes play tonight against the Toros, in the game that was rescheduled due to the strike in San Fransisco de Macoris. This strike has ended and the city is back to normal, whatever normal means.

Dominican Winter Baseball: San Francisco de Macoris still shut down over strike, Lima Time

10/20/09 Games-
The Gigantes travel to Santo Domingo tomorrow to take on Licey. This is a blog about Dominican baseball, but the Dominican Baseball Guy is an anthropologist and cannot help but comment on society and culture. San Fransisco is still shut down, the strike should end tomorrow.

It is a really bad situation, especially at night. Groups of armed men and boys have taken up posts around the city, regulating traffic, and there is not enough police presence to effect these groups. They are basically doing whatever they want, especially at night.

 Luckily, The Dominican Baseball Guy knows the right people (who are also armed) so have not been effected; however, it is still a scary situation going through roadblocks of armed civilians. Everyone must realize, this is the situation Dominican prospects grow up in, and things such as this are not extraordinary.

The Dominican Baseball Guy is safe and in the capital, heading to Gigantes vs. Licey tomorrow.

Last night, Diory Hernández had a homer, double, and single, and Brennan Boesch had a homer and two singles, both for Escogido in a win over the Estrellas. Hernandez was with the Braves AAA team last year and hit .319 in 204 at bats as a short stop. Boesch, an American import for Escogido had 28 homers and 93 RBI for the Tigers AA team last year. He is is huge (6'6'', 210). Look for Boesch to have a big winter league.

In the other game, American catcher Craig Tatum had an RBI in a 4-1 for Aguilas over Licey. Tatum was with the Louisville Bats in the International League last year, and it looks like Manager Rick Sweet brought him, along with pitcher Ben Jukich to play with Aguilas. Jose Lima (yes that Jose Lima) pitched three innings of shutout ball to start the game for Aguilas, but did not get the win. Timoniel (Timo) Pérez had a double for Licey. Yes, that ex-MLB player Timo Perez who played in the Mexican Summer League last year.

Jose Lima with the Dodgers in 2004, by Malingering on Flickr

Dominican Winter Baseball: Gigantes game canceled due to strike, Ecogido has Venezuelan Cheerleaders!

10/19/09 Games-
The Gigantes have an off night tonight, and their game tomorrow has been canceled due to protests in San Fransisco de Macoris over public transportation and electricity services.

The Dominican Baseball Guy does not blame the strikers, the electricity is really sporadic at best in my apartment. Most of the businesses are closed today and people have set up road blocks to stall public transportation. There have been ongoing clashes with police in some parts of the city. The Gigantes will play in the capital tomorrow though, and this game has been rescheduled for Thursday. Unfortunately, this is not all that uncommon in the Dominican Republic.

In other games tonight Yasser Gomez had a double, single, and three runs. He is from Cuba, and as far as I can tell this is his first experience outside Cuba. He could be a player to watch going forward. Also, Robinson Diaz had three sinlges and a run for the Estrellas Orientales from San Pedro de Macoris. Diaz played in 41 games with the Pirates last year and posted a respectable .279 average in 129 at bats as a catcher. Francisco Rosario pitched four shutout innings, but Roberto Giron got the win pitching scoreless innings in the 5th and 6th.

Astros farmhand Jose Capellan got the loss for the Bulls from La Romana.

The other game had Licey vs. Escogido, the two teams in Santo Dominigo. Aparently, the Listin Diario web site thought it was more important to publish an article about the Escogido cheerleaders being from Venezuela (not Dominicans as is the norm), than to publish the results of the game. Anyway, imported player Tobi Stoner took the win for Escogido. He was in the Mets organization last year, and allowed 1 run in 5 innings last night. Another American, Michael McKenry had a two RBI double for Escogido. He was an everyday player last year with Tulsa of the Texas League, an affiliate of the Rockies.

American player Michael McKenry had two RBI for Escogido Monday,
photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

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