Santo Domingo, R.D. /
The baseball is an absolute passion Dominican Republic, a sport that arrived in the country at the end of the 19th century to definitively transform life on the island. The ‘king of sports‘ got into people’s lives so much that they began to practice it at the most demanding levels, that level was observed by MLBthe most powerful league in the world, and that’s how Dominican little by little the country was made with most foreigners in history of the Big leagues.
According to historical research, baseball arrived in the Dominican Republic in the year 1886 thanks to a couple of Cuban brothers: Ubaldo and Ignacio Alomá, who arrived on a boat along with other compatriots to look for work in Dominican, and, in their free time, they organized baseball games, a sport that was later adopted by the native Dominicans and they made it one of their most important lifestyles.
His commitment to baseball was so great that over time his professional league became a great hotbed for importing talent to the Major Leaguesand, according to Baseball Reference records, by the year 2022 there are a total of 22,564 players in MLB history, of which 830 are Dominican.
The first Dominican to reach the Major Leagues
The year 1956 has a great meaning of glory, since it marked a before and after for Dominican baseball, since Osvaldo Virgil opened the door for future generations to be part of the ninths of the best baseball in the world and then become the country that exports the most players to its system.
ViRigil was born in San Fernando de Montecristiin the province that bears the same name, but at the age of 13 he moved with his family to The Bronx, New York to start a new life in the United States and have better life opportunities. Virgil studied high school and then joined the Marinaserving from 1950 to 1952 to the American nation and, at the end of his military service, he began to play baseball and thanks to his skills he caught the attention of New York Giantsninth with which he debuted on September 23, 1956 to complete a career of 13 seasons in Big leagues wearing the jackets of:
- Detroit Tigers
- Kansas City Athletics
- Baltimore Orioles
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- San Francisco Giants
Since then and to this day there are 830 Dominicans who have worn one or more MLB team uniforms, continuing the legacy that Virgil left and raising the name of the island.
Most prominent Dominicans in MLB
- Juan Marichal (Cooperstown Hall of Fame Inductee)
- Manny Ramirez
- Pedro Martinez (Cooperstown Hall of Fame Inductee)
- David Ortiz (Cooperstown Hall of Fame Inductee)
- Vladimir Guerrero (Cooperstown Hall of Fame Inductee)
- Sammy Sosa
- Albert Pujols
- Adrian Beltre
