Ricardo Rodriguez
and José Garcia: Episode 1
Ricardo and José endure rigorous training
at the Dodgers' Campo Las Palmas in the Dominican
Republic, and not all of it in the sport of
baseball. The young men at the camp are also
schooled in the American work ethic and social
customs.
"Before, when players traveled from the
Dominican Republic to the U.S., 99 percent
of them failed," explains a Dodgers coach.
"They failed because of poor work habits,
language problems and poor table manners.
We need to teach them how to hold the silverware
properly—not to hold the fork as if
it were a shovel to shove sand with. We teach
them not to lower the mouth to the fork, like
an animal."
The young men are also taught American customs
and expectations about relations with women.
While José, with his flashy personality,
manages to maintain relationships with five
different women at home, Ricardo, who is motivated
and focused, has time and dedication for only
one girlfriend.
At camp, Ricardo is nervous that a sore arm
could cost him a trip to America, so he tries
to hide it from the coaches and pushes himself
hard. Eventually, during a practice game against
the Montreal Expos, he is forced to ice and
rest his sore arm.
The Dodgers had high hopes for José
as a hitter, but he is not living up to expectations,
so they make a surprising decision: They want
to turn him into a pitcher. "It gives
us another option with him," says a Dodger
coach. "Especially because his bat is
not what we expected it to be. And it’s
just the same thing that would happen to any
player who didn’t evolve as a position
player. Eventually, if you don’t get
the job done, you don’t have a job."
"The difficulty is, I have to start from
scratch," says José. "I have
to learn curves, change-ups, learn the movements.
Like they say, I have to learn to walk again."
Because of visa restrictions, the Dodgers
can only send six new players to the U. S.
this year. Ricardo makes the list. José
does not.
José's mother Lala has feared this
moment. "For someone who has always had
everything, to be told you can’t go
to the U.S. is no big deal," she says.
"But poor people’s dreams are very
deep things. When the kids are around 15 years,
if they are strongly built, the scouts start
telling them that they can be baseball players,
that they can make a lot of money like Sammy
Sosa or Pedro Martinez. So they start thinking
they can make money faster in baseball than
anything else and they drop out of school.
"They become nothing most of them. Most
of them become vagabonds. And everywhere they
go people say, "He used to be a baseball
player a real good one…"
Ricardo is one of the few prospects in the
camp chosen to travel to spring training at
Dodger City in Vero Beach, Florida, where
he meets the legendary Tommy LaSorda, who
"likes what he sees."
At spring training new prospects are mixed
with seasoned Major Leaguers in an atmosphere
of extreme competition. Some are hoping to
win or keep a job in the majors. For Ricardo,
the goal is to be placed with a Minor League
team in the U.S. and not be sent home. Ricardo
is being paid $5,000, top dollar for a Dominican
player. He is training alongside American
players making as much as $350,000.
Ricardo not only has to deal with the rigorous
schedule at camp, he must adjust to life in
America. "For a young man from the Dominican
Republic, it’s language and culture
that I worry about the most," says Bill
Getvett, assistant to the general manager
of player development. "He’s going
to play at certain clubs in our organization
where he’s going to have to get an apartment.
He’s got to figure out how he’s
going to get cable and electricity and all
these things that go on."
Eventually, José is chosen to go to
spring training in Vero Beach. While he and
his fellow players train extremely hard, they
spend their limited free time hanging out
and flirting with local girls. For all their
talent, they are still teenage boys.
At the end of spring training, Ricardo and
José have made the cut. They’re
on their way to play in the summer leagues
in Great Falls, Montana.
Learn
more about the recruitment of foreign athletes
>
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| Ricardo with
his grandmother in the Dominican Republic |
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| José
at Campo Las Palmas |
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