How Fidel Castro Revolutionized MLB Scouting

As many of us do, I love falling down a good Wikipedia rabbit hole. A search to find out what awards The Script won for their smash hits "Breakeven" and "For the First Time" can lead to an hour of clicking around finding yourself reading the notable alumni section of Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park, Kansas (Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle).

Last night I was spewing nonsense to my mom about what olympic basketball teams would look like if former countries like Yugoslavia or the USSR were still in tact. Or who would be on Mexico's team if they still held on to Texas after General Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón reclaimed the territory in 1836 at the Alamo. Then she asked me what's the background behind why such a prominent percentage of MLB players come from the Dominican Republic.

I'm not one for a quick and easy answer so I wiped my monocle clean, put on my tin foil hat, and got to work. In 2022 the DR was the birthplace to 171 players on MLB rosters, most of any international country ahead of second-place Venezuela's 106 players and third-place Cuba's 33. Why is it that more than 10% of professional baseball players come from a nation the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined?

I came to an interesting conclusion. You might know Fidel Castro from inventing the eurostep or his top-selling Funko Pop. But what if I told you that no one played a greater role in the growth of Dominican baseball than Fidel Castro.

                                             

To understand the history of bats and balls on the island of Hispaniola, one must first have a bit of background in Cuban baseball. When America's pastime was becoming popular stateside around the late 19th Century, we were chillin' in terms of relations with Cuba. The lads off the Florida Keys were just starting to drum up a rebellion against their Spanish landlords and that was fine by President Grant. 

At this time, a lot of wealthy Cubans were attending American universities and partying with Gatsby before heading back to the island. When they got home, they wanted to play their new favorite game but while it only takes 2 to tango it takes 18 to baseball. In 2023, I'd just post on my Facebook wall "Hey, need 17 more bodies to bat some balls around the diamond at Ogontz Park around 3:00..comment if you're down, like for a tbh and rate" then share it to my Pinterest board, Instagram Story, and post it in the park's Google review section. But in 1870 Cuba, you would just get the guys in your factory to play after work.

In order for anything to take off and sustain popularity, it must spread successfully through the working class. Baseball has a low bar of entry as it doesn't take much to play. I've played in a hotel room with a body pillow, a suction cup ball from the bowling alley arcade, and a strike zone drawn on the window in deodorant

Baseball's popularity on the island was ignited faster than a poorly rolled cigar doused in hundred-proof rum. During this time of rebellion, many Cubans that worked in sugar cane fields fled for safer pastures. Where did they land? The Dominican Republic. And what did they bring with them? Presumably a suitcase, but also...béisbol.

By the turn of the 20th Century, both Cuba and the USA had warded off the Spanish pricks who were trying to cause a ruckus on our side of the Atlantic. Political relations with Havana were strong and a short-lived military occupation on the island opened American eyes to Cuban baseball talent. US troops would play local teams, professional players would spend their winters in a nonsegregated Cuban league, and soon ball club executives realized they could sign extremely talented players for the fraction of what they were paying Americans.

On comes the Cold War. In steps Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. By the time Castro had seized office in 1959 eighty Cuban-born baseball players had debuted in the MLB, 36 in the 1950's alone. As trade embargo effects were really kicking in during the decade from 1970-79, only 4 players that called Cuba home made their major league debut.

Your parents might've felt like badasses trying to sneak a few cigars back from a business trip to Havana when you were a kid, but it's much harder to smuggle a baseball player. With Castro's vice grip choking the river of talent flowing from his island into America, scouts had to look elsewhere to exploit talent for pennies on the dollar so they flocked to the DR like University of Miami Tri-Delts on an all-inclusive spring break trip.

Rewind a bit (yeah I know) back to the 19teens. The Dominican Republic owes a lot of European countries a lottttt of money. Well beyond the amount that'd warrant a few broken knee caps from Paulie Walnuts. This is also during World War I so America looks at the situation and decides, eh shit we don't want anyone from Europe near our borders coming back to collect their boxes of ziti. US occupies the DR and it's an ugly scene for 8 years. Similarly to Cuba ten years earlier, American soldiers compete against the Dominicans in heavily contentious games on the diamond. But the Dominicans won, a lot. 

If you're this deep into my run-on of crap, surely you're already familiar with Mr. Jackie Robinson and the segregation that plagued major league baseball. Because of a difference in complexion, some Cuban players were "accepted" on rosters but not Dominicans. Empathizing with their situation in the US, Negro League stars like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson would play Dominican winter ball further drumming up the popularity among islanders.

It wasn't until 1956 that Ozzie Virgil broke the barrier, hailing from Monte Cristo, DR and starting at 3rd base for the New York Giants. By that time, over sixty Cuban-born had played in the bigs. As Virgil and the Alou brothers were poking holes in the floodgates, Cuba was raising their dam faster than a pack of beavers off an 8 ball of Colombian booger sugar.

When Castro took power in '59, major league baseball consisted of 16 franchises. Over the next twenty years, 10 expansion teams would be added and my adjunct principles of macroeconomics professor taught me that supply must rise to meet demand. As mentioned above only 4 Cuban players entered the MLB in the 1970's. By contrast, 36 Dominican-born players made their debut in that decade and 64 more were added in the 80's.

Today, almost all of the players you see on TV are being spoonfed to organizations through developmental academies that were established throughout the country by teams to ensure the pipeline keeps flowing. The Dodgers were the first to do so in 1987 setting up their own baseball Plymouth Rock in Santo Domingo and now all 30 ballclubs have their own facility.

Had Fidel Castro not caused such friction with Washington D.C. there's reason to believe that Cuba would have been the capital of Latin's America's surge into major league baseball, not the Dominican Republic. During World War II Cubans were oft turned to as replacements for the players that set off to battle so it was established that there was a deep well of talent capable of filling out rosters. As the league expanded in the 60's and 70's Cuba would have been a natural destination for scouts of new ball clubs but the political scene would dictate otherwise.

Baseball remains just as popular, if not more so, in Cuba as it did 60 years ago and diplomatic relations have improved to the point where a Cuban-born baseball player has debuted on a pro roster in every season since Castro stepped down from power in 2006. Over the last five seasons, 30 players from Cuba have been given a chance in an MLB game; however 31 players from the Dominican made their debut last year alone. Coulda been you, Fidel.