Dominican baseball documentary "Pelotero" screened recently

"Pelotero" the movie played at the Port Jefferson Documentary Series on Monday.

Bobby Valentine's company produced the movie and it was directed and shot by Guagua Productions.  The film is making the rounds at some film festivals and special screenings.  It will see limited release this Summer.

The Dominican baseball documentary follows Twins uber-prospect Miguel Sano and another prospect on their way to signing a contract with an MLB team.

Visit Pelotero the movie for clips from the movie and more, or find it on Facebook.

Photo courtesy of Pelotero the movie on Facebook

Ken Burns latest documentary has scenes of Dominican Baseball, inspires college player to start Go To Bat for Cuba charity, pelicula se llama "Baseball" tiene escenas de pelota dominicana

The Dominican Baseball Guy has talked several times about Dominican Baseball movies and documentaries.  Ken Burns documentary entitled Baseball is a well known documentary on the game and has been featured on the American Public Broadcast Station.  Burns has made a name for himself with super long and detailed documentaries, most notably "Jazz" and "The War."

Burns' latest installment of Baseball is called The Tenth Inning and it features scenes of baseball in the Dominican Republic, as well as other aspects of the international game.  These scenes of baseball in the Dominican Republic recently inspired a former University of Pennsylvania baseball player to create Go To Bat for Cuba.  Former Penn player and founder Adrian Lorenzo, and the organization, collect used baseball equipment and send it to Cuba.

Go to bat for Cuba is the latest of some great charities that donate equipment and other services to the Dominican Republic and other Latin countries.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has blogged on David Ortiz and his charity's celebrity golf tournament, Manny Acta and his ImpACTA Kids Foundation, along with a number of other Dominican charitable organizations.

Good luck Mr. Lorenzo on Go To Bat for Cuba and with your post-college plans.  Please visit Go To Bat for Cuba at their Facebook page and send them some equipment if you can:

Dominican Baseball documentary "El Play" premiers in New York, pelicula de pelota dominicano va a ver en New York

The Dominican Baseball Guy wishes he was in New York to see the premier of "El Play."  The documentary follows the story of Jairo Candelario, a young Dominican baseball player, and his dream to play professional baseball.

El play is a synonym for a baseball or softball game in the Dominican Republic.  If someone asks what you are doing later, an exchange may go like this:

Que te pasa esta noche?
No se, vamos al play. 

And you can be refering to anything from a little league softball game all the way up to a professional Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) game.

You can see the film on June 21, 2011 at 7 p.m. at the 809 Lounge, 112 Dyckman St., New York, NY.  Here is a preview:

ELPLAY_Trailer by cubanica

The Dominican Sports and Education Academy is presenting the movie.  The academy is an amazing concept of the founder Charles S. Farrell.  The plan is to develop and educate 14-16 year old Dominican baseball players and other athletes, while at the same time giving them a top notch education that would allow them to qualify for college scholarships in the US.  

This is such a great concept because this is the exact age when kids get lost or misled by the dreaded buscones (*disclaimer* all the buscones that the Dominican Baseball Guy has ever met were great guys really looking out for their players).  But, it does happen to varying degrees, even when a players advisers really are looking out for him.  

And a program like this would give kids another option (college), which would allow them to further develop their education, rather than having to put all their eggs in the dream of Major League Baseball and the academies in the Dominican Republic.  If they do not make it to even the minor leagues, and they go the academies route, they more than likely never leave the island, and have no money, and very little education to show for it.  If they make it college in the US, they will at least have continued education, and in some cases a better opportunity at making the big leagues.

So, visit the Dominican Sports and Education Academy website and make a donation.  The Dominican Baseball Guy cannot wait to see the movie.

Dan Rather Reports on Dominican Baseball

This is an older story that the Dominican Baseball Guy just came across.  Dan Rather has a new show on HDNet, and he covered Dominican baseball in one episode last year.  It is a weekly show that covers one topic each episode and delves deeply into whatever topic is under discussion.

Rather presented "Field of Broken Dreams" on 10/19/2010.  In the episode he investigates everything about Dominican baseball, from steroids to bonus money to age fraud and visa fraud.  It is an hour long show with a number of interviews and he does a fair job in addresses a number of issues in the short time frame.  The show includes interviews and archival footage, as well as commentary.  It is a good watch if anything for the video footage of Dominican baseball.  See another review of the episode here.

You can download the episode through itunes where it is the 33rd episode of season 5:

Bobby Valentine to produce Pelotero, a documentary on Dominican Baseball

Bobby Valentine recently created Makuhari Media, a film production company that will focus on producing sports themed documentaries.  Valentine teamed with Andrew J. Muscato in creating the company.  Muscato produced "The Zen of Bobby V," which focused on Valentine's successful managerial career in Japan.  See the press release.

"Pelotero" will be the first movie from the new production company.  Pelotero is a derivative of pelota or ball, and it literally means ballplayer in Spanish.  The word is especially prevelant in the Dominican Republic, as most Dominicans refer to their baseball players as peloteros, not jugadores (players) or beisbolistas like other Latin American countries.  So, that is where the title comes from.

The film is co-produced by Guagua Productions, which is the production company of Jonathan Paley, Trevor Martin, and Ross Finkel (the directors of "Pelotero").  A guagua is a small bus that people use to travel around the Dominican Republic.  They are often overflowing with people, and they are a big part of the culture of the Dominican Republic.  This is the first feature length documentary for Guagua Productions, and this is obviously where the owners got the inspiration to name their company.

Bobby Valentine says in the press release:

"Our first documentary will bring viewers into the world of Dominican youth baseball like no other film before it.  This vivid and captivating documentary will stand alone in its presentation of this fabulous baseball culture."

The film is in post-production and follows three Dominican prospects through the signing process, most notably Baseball America #60 overall prospect Miguel Sano of the Twins.  Sano is from San Pedro de Macoris and the film is filmed in this city, which has the most baseball talent in the world.  Just click the tag below to see all the players from this city of only 200,000 inhabitants.

The Dominican Baseball Guy has been in touch with Ross Finkel for several months awaiting the release of this film.  So, the Dominican Baseball Guy is excited to see the latest film on Dominican baseball.  Check out the trailer:

     Pelotero preview

Bobby Valentine manages in Japan, photo by US consulate, Osaka, Japan  

Dominican Baseball Movies

There have been a number of movies and documentaries about Dominican Baseball in recent years.

First off, many of you may have heard of the feature film "Sugar," which is a fictional account of a Dominican pitcher playing in the minor leagues and hoping to make it to the big leagues. It is available on itunes.























Next, The Republic of Baseall: The Dominican Giants of the American Game is a documentary featuring Felipe Alou, Orlando Cepeda and many of the first generation of Dominicans to play in the big leagues. Not sure where to find this movie. There is also commentary by Vladimir Guerrero, Alfonso Soriano, and other current big leaguers. Road to the Big Leagues is another documentary that first aired on ESPN deportes, but is now available on DVD. It features Vladimir Guerrero, David Ortiz, as well as some younger Dominican ballplayers. Here is a link to the official website for this movie where you can buy the movie. These two movies are more of the made for TV variety that briefly showcase stars along with a short story.

Two other documentaries are in depth stories of up and coming prospects. Change Up (2002) follows two Dominican pitching prospects through the Dominican academies and minor leagues. It has been compared to Hoop Dreams. Looks like a good movie and got good reviews, but not sure where to get it. Lastly, Pelotero:A Domincian Baseball Story, features uber prospect Migual Angel Sanos, along with several other prospects. Sanos was recently signed to a multimillion dollar bonus by the Twins, and the movie shows this process. This one just came out and I am not sure where to get it either. Pretty frustrating because I would really like to see these two.

I will try to find out if they are available.