OnlyBucs

Yesterday, I posted that I was out of the country with no internet access, or at least it was very limited and spotty.  I wanted to elaborate a little bit more on that, because there is a baseball tie-in to the story.



I spent a week in the Dominican Republic working at an orphanage.  I was asked to go for a number of reasons, but one is that I'm more or less proficient in Spanish.  I don't consider myself fluent, but I can hold a coherent conversation, and I can read and write the language.  It was a wonderful week that really makes you appreciate what we have in this country, things like wifi, warm water, a bed, a house, septic systems that don't get clogged when flushing toilet paper down them, air conditioning, etc.  But, what these people don't have in terms of amenities that we all take for granted, they more than make up for in joy and happiness.  I've never seen so many smiling people.  Little kids kept running up and asking me to play basketball with them, push them on a swing, ride a teeter-totter with them, rollerblade, whatever.  To live at this particular orphanage, the child had to have lost at least one parent.  Due to the economics in the Dominican Republic, when a parent dies, often times its near impossible to raise and support a child as a single parent.  Many of the children there had lost both parents.



This orphanage is the Ritz by the standards of the area.  They have tile floors, and three meals a day.  The children are all able to go to school.  Less than a fifteen minute walk away, however, is true poverty.  We went to this neighborhood, and a woman showed us her home, which had dirt floors, a tin roof, the walls were brick masonry and nothing more...no paint, no wallpaper, nothing, and the home felt like a sauna.  But, she had more than one room in her house, so for this particular spot in the world, she was living in the Taj Mahal.



OK...so, the baseball tie in.  I met a young man at the orphanage who had been scouted by a number of pro teams.  I played catch with him, and he's got a great arm.  But, due to lack of any documentation about his birth, he can't get a passport or visa to come to the State.  On the way to the neighborhood I described above, we walked by the Brewers' Dominican training complex.  Just up the road were the facilities for the Braves, Indians, and Blue Jays.  The only one I saw was the Brewers, and it's gorgeous, by the island's standards anyway.



I share this for a couple of reasons.  First, to point out that MLB is doing some wonderful things on the island.  I think all 30 teams run training academies there and give an educational opportunity to hundreds of young men who otherwise wouldn't have one.  But second, I can't help but think of the exorbitant amount of money that is present in MLB.  I've lamented on here before about how only in the mixed-up world of MLB can a potential $500 million contract for Bryce Harper be considered "selling a guy short."  I'm a capitalist and a conservative.  I have no qualms with people making money, even making good money.  But, I do find myself asking the question about whether or not MLB could do more to help the people on this tiny island which produces so much talent and brings so much money to owners' pockets.  For every hundred kids they help by putting them through one of their academies, there are 10,000 who fall between the cracks. But, how much money have guys like Jose Bautista, Albert Pujols, Nelson Cruz and others made their owners from ticket sales, jersey sales, T.V. contracts, etc?



I love baseball, but the economics of the game have never sat well with me. Suffice it to say, after having visited the Dominican, I have a very different outlook on world poverty. I've been fortunate to have been able to travel abroad a great deal (mostly to Europe for various things), but this was my first time going to a truly poverty-stricken area. To say it opens one's eyes would be an understatement.

You would think there is even an economic argument about building even a bigger flow of talent to invest a bit more. It also makes you appreciate the greatness of Clemente for all that he was trying to do for the area.



This may hit too close with what you just came back with but this story by Mitch Albom is uplifting and gut wrenching at the same time.



https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/c ... 322589001/

But, how much money have guys like Jose Bautista, Albert Pujols, Nelson Cruz and others made their owners from ticket sales, jersey sales, T.V. contracts, etc?



It's a good question, but don't forget how much their owners paid them too. A millionaire in the United States lives large. Imagine if they still lived where you were.



Pujols is going to make over $230 million in his career. Cruz is already over $70 million. Bautista is over $103 million.



I can't really fault MLB paying this much for their employees. It's a big time business and they of course make a ton of money. Their employees are paid really well too.



A lot of respect to you working in the DR at an orphanage. It is very sad how poor some countries are as a whole. And people here complain about our government? Or about anything for that matter. I recently sat by a woman on a plane who was cold and there were no more blankets. She was in a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. I had a long sleeve shirt on. She didn't like it when she said how planes are always cold and I then said if you know that why didn't you wear warmer clothes. I had a quiet flight the rest of the way!

thanks for sharing your experience.