NewsWhore
04-06-2009, 06:00 PM
The story of the dozens of Dominican baseball players who do not make it to the Major Leagues is being told in a movie called "Sugar", which has opened to upbeat reviews in major cities in the US. The film portrays the experiences of the young players trying to reach the big show, reports Major League Baseball. It gives insights into the baseball industry and its ramifications in the DR.
"This industry is so huge down there, and I thought if I, as a fan, didn't know, then I thought other fans didn't know either, and not just baseball fans, but people interested in a very unique immigrant experience," Ryan Fleck, the film's co-director told MLB. And I thought this would be a pretty exciting story to tell."
In the Dominican Republic, where baseball has been popular for more than a century, the sport is often seen as the quickest way for a man to lift himself and his family out of poverty. Slightly more than 10 percent of big leaguers are from the Dominican Republic, with an even greater proportion of Minor Leaguers originally hailing from the island.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090403&content_id=... (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090403&content_id=4117192&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb)
http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/04/05/... (http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/04/05/sugar_is_a_whole_new_ballgame/)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#16)
"This industry is so huge down there, and I thought if I, as a fan, didn't know, then I thought other fans didn't know either, and not just baseball fans, but people interested in a very unique immigrant experience," Ryan Fleck, the film's co-director told MLB. And I thought this would be a pretty exciting story to tell."
In the Dominican Republic, where baseball has been popular for more than a century, the sport is often seen as the quickest way for a man to lift himself and his family out of poverty. Slightly more than 10 percent of big leaguers are from the Dominican Republic, with an even greater proportion of Minor Leaguers originally hailing from the island.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090403&content_id=... (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090403&content_id=4117192&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb)
http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/04/05/... (http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/04/05/sugar_is_a_whole_new_ballgame/)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#16)