The Cano Baseball Experience: culture and baseball in the Dominican Republic

Yankees all-star and perennial MVP candidate Robinson Cano has been trained most of his life by his father.  While growing up and training in the Dominican Republic, Cano and his father have both lived and trained in the United States since Robinson started as a professional stateside.   The Canos have come to realize the benefits of understanding baseball and the culture of two countries.

The Canos are not alone in realizing the need and the market for cultural immersion activities around Dominican baseball.  People know that Dominicans are great at baseball and they know that the game occupies a central part of Dominican culture.  So, people want to learn more about the game and see more of Dominican baseball, whether it be in the United States or in the Dominican Republic.

In recent years there have been many groups involved in cultural immersion programs that feature Dominican baseball.  The TCU baseball team made a trip to play some games in the Dominican Republic.  A group of Arkansas baseball players took a missionary trip to the country.  Beyond the Game is a sports tourism company that leads trips to the Dominican Republic in which clients get a crash course in Dominican baseball and culture.

And of course, Major League Baseball and it's teams are growing their cultural development programs for Dominican players.  Even American players are learning Spanish and growing their baseball knowledge by learning more about baseball in the Dominican Republic.

So, in this tradition, Robinson Cano and his father are offering the Cano Baseball Experience.  From the website:

The Canó Baseball Experience (CBE) is a unique, authentic Dominican baseball experience. CBE is directed by Jose Canó, father of New York Yankees All-Star second baseman Robinson Canó and former Major League Baseball pitcher. After years of training Robinson, Jose and Robinson decided it would be great to share the experience of authentic Dominican baseball, Canó style. The goal of CBE is not only to instill and further the most core and fundamental baseball skills and instincts, but to also allow for an appreciation of the game and art of baseball. Your Canó Baseball Experience will last a lifetime, while testing and improving your baseball aptitude and allowing you to experience the methods that make Canó what he is.

So, the Cano Baseball Experience will be grounded more in growing baseball skills and aptitude.  But there will also be a cultural component in that American baseball players will be learning from a Dominican coach.  The Canos will also be offering the experience in Cano's hometown, San Pedro de Macoris.  So, players that choose to have the experience in San Pedro will be visiting one of the most historic baseball towns in the world, and be gaining invaluable cultural knowledge.

So, the Cano Baseball Experience also sees the immersion into Dominican baseball culture as an important aspect.  According to Robinson Cano:

My dad and I have been talking about giving kids a chance to experience baseball, the way I grew up learning it in the Dominican Republic; the whole idea of The Canó Baseball Experience is more than just baseball, its about culture and sharing the Dominican Republic with the kids of the US.

Visit the Cano Baseball Experience website to register:

Seeing a Dominican Winter Baseball League Game and Traveling the DR in General

So a friend of the Dominican Baseball Guy sent this question to the Dominican Baseball Guy's Facebook page:

I'd hate to be so American about it, but you think it's cool to go there by myself and check out the game or it's better to go with someone from there? Es peligroso is my question. I'm used to PR but you hear how you gotta be careful wandering around DR especially by yourself. Just asking.

The Dominican Baseball Guy answered briefly on the facebook page, but I feel obliged to answer in a longer post here.

For those of you that do not habla espanol, "peligroso" is dangerous.  So to start, it is definetly a valid question, complicated issue.  Simplest answer is, if you take registered cabs to and from the games, you should not have any problems.  The stadiums are well run and secure, and the registered cab companies all leave their cab number at your hotel and they are legit operations.

In general, I would not leave the major tourist areas/resorts without speaking decent Spanish and being an experienced traveler.  It can certainly be "peligroso" and whatever the above poster has heard is probably true.  Most of the country has metal bars on their homes and businesses, and law enforcement is not very efficient, especially outside the capital city or the more developed southern coast.

I was there for about 3 months of the Dominican Winter Baseball League and had 2-3 incidents in which I definitely felt unsafe.  I was living by myself in a small apartment for about 2 months, and everyone kept telling me that I shouldn't live by myself, that people are watching you.  Then one night a group of 20 or so people were drinking and playing loud music in the street outside my apartment, and some of them were actually inside the gate of the apartment.  They had set up shop on the street and made a fire in an old tire, and they were stopping cars and motorcycles and just harassing people.  I got super nervous because I realized that they could easily come into my apartment and do whatever they wanted if they had seen me by myself before.  If I was able to get a hold of the police (which wasn't even really a possiblity), there is no way they would have gotten there in any sort of timely manner.  Anyway, after several hours of these guys holding court in the street and playing loud music and stopping cars and whatnot, they moved on and never came to my door or anything.  The point is the police do nothing in a situation such as this, where a group is disturbing the whole neighborhood, and stopping people trying to pass on the street.

A similar situation occured a week or so later.  There was a strike going on in San Francisco de Macoris and the public transportation was not running.  People had put up road blocks to stop the public transportation and the strike was over the usual lack of public services, mainly electricity.  In many parts of the country people are lucky to get 10-12 hours of electricity, and this was the case throughout San Francisco de Macoris, except within a few block radius in the very center of town.  So, during this strike, I was with some friends I had met that worked for the team and were fans of the team at a bar drinking one night.  We left and they were taking me home on a motorcycle, and close to my apartment some guys came out of nowhere and blocked the road.  Most of them had bandanas on their face and their were several guns.  Our other friends were watching us to make sure I made it to the apartment, and when they saw this they rushed to our defense.  There was some pushing and they were trying to grab my bag, but in the end my friends were known in town and had some clout with these guys, and explained that I was with them and a journalist, not working for the police or the FBI.  

I spent the night with a friend named Roberto that night in a tiny house on the outskirts of town, and ended up moving in with him after this incident.  He lived in a shanty town on the edge of San Francisco de Macoris that did not have running water or sewage, but I definitely felt safer with him.  Everyone within several miles pretty much knew I was a friend of Roberto.  The people in this neighborhood were dirt poor, but they were not a criminal element.  Roberto lived with his wife, and several family members lived in a sort of compound around his house.  They treated me like family.  We ate and played baseball or other games most days, and I got little work done.  Roberto and others did introduce me to contacts periodically that became a great help my masters research project.  But I felt safe because Roberto and his family took me in.

So those are the incidents in which I felt unsafe in my few months in San Francisco de Macoris.  For the most part I was not very worried about security, but I was mindful of my surroundings.  Daytime in most parts of the city there is no reason to be worried at all.  I do not want to scare people from going.  Most Dominicans are hard working and honest people, and there are many foreigners throughout the country.

But I also want people to be aware that it is a very rough, poverty stricken country, with little law enforcement, especially at night.  There is a large portion of the country that is underemployed, and these people will take advantage of every opportunity they have.  I would say it is generally "soft crimes," people overcharging for a fake tour or people expecting a payment just for information.  But the unemployed population is looking to take advantage of any chance to make money, legal or otherwise.

As, I said complicated issue.  I am white as can be, but do speak good Spanish, and I was writing an anthropology thesis, so was interviewing and hanging out with average fans and workers.  I am also an experienced traveler and feel I carry myself well when in an unfamiliar situation.  

So, don't be scared to go see a game, but be aware of your surroundings when traveling the DR.