Sugar

Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island that is almost literally divided in half. It’s kind of like the Korea of the Caribbean, only very different.

            Haiti is the only place in the Caribbean that won lasting independence through a successful revolt of African slaves. Today, Haiti is a very dark and very poor place. Dominicans are scared of Haitians, who have spilled across the border from time to time with murder on their minds.

            That’s partly why, long after Columbus came, the Dominicans continued to absorb or even invite parasitic invasions from the Spanish, French, and Americans – for dubious protection. Over and over again, the Dominican Republic has been more or less conquered – while everybody tried to ignore Haiti. As such, the Dominican Republic has a very mixed set of identities. People still speak versions of Spanish, French, and English. Because everything is mixed up in the gene pool, it's difficult to guess if a baby will be born dark or light. Generally, the whiter the better – if for no other reason than to put more distance between the child and the Haitian side of the border. But, in history, there is one thing that has really set the Dominican Republic apart from Haiti.

            Sugar.

            Turns out, the Dominican side of the island is perfect for growing sugar cane. Because it was sparsely populated, Europeans imported slaves to harvest the cane. In the 20th Century, Americans used both world wars as excuses to invade the impoverished country. And, even before the wars, Americans were teaching baseball to hungry Dominicans who were working in foreign-owned cane fields. Workers affiliated with various mills were eventually organized into teams that played on Sundays. Kids took up the sport, too, using whatever equipment they could make or pilfer. There would be no shortage of ballplayers.

            The other two major sugar-producing countries in the neighborhood have been Puerto Rico and Cuba. It’s no coincidence that the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Cuba have produced so many talented baseball players. And, after the Cuban pipeline was disrupted for political reasons, it’s no wonder that the Dominican Republic was destined to become known for baseball -- a development that has often been exploited by foreigners and corrupt versions of the Dominican government.    

            In addition to having cheap labor to harvest the sugar, the Dominican Republic has probably been the most economical place to procure good baseball labor. The young ballplayers were never subject to the rules of an amateur draft like the one that now protects the pool of players in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Dominicans can still be signed by any U.S. club at the age of 16, cheap, on the spot. Some very promising kids get increasingly large bonuses to sign. It's like winning the lottery, assuming they aren't swindled out of the money by shady characters. Regardless, MLB teams typically feed and house prospects at baseball "academies" that are located in the shadows of the sugar mills. When they are ready to play minor league ball, the Dominicans are sent to the states. Even before Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, some token Latin players were "welcome" in the U.S. But since integration, lots of Dominican players have become stars (though most have not). For the lucky ones who make it to the big leagues, staggering amounts of money are up for grabs. Dominicans don't have to defect like Cubans, so even a little U.S. baseball money goes a long way back home.

            (Before Jackie broke the barrier, President Trujillo, a serial criminal, used to send a representative to New Orleans with bags of cash money to lure well-known black players to the Dominican Republic, where baseball was already a serious spectator sport and where skin color wasn't a deal breaker. Satchel Paige, among other Negro League players, went briefly to the Dominican despite the consequences – the threat of firing squads – of losing baseball games.)

Today, the economy of the Dominican Republic is largely dependent on the exportation and exploitation of its baseball talent, which would have never been cultivated in the first place without sugar. Mark Kurlansky wrote a book about all of this called The Eastern Stars. It’s supposed to be about the shortstop-producing town of San Pedro de Macoris, but it’s really about sugar. It’s not nearly as good as Kurlansky’s book about cod called Cod, but the subject matter is similarly fascinating. In Cod, Kurlansky details how the Basques were fishing off the coast of North America (before Columbus) and mysteriously returning their lucrative catches to the European markets – thanks to salt. Long story.

P.S. Robinson Cano (named after Jackie Robinson) recently signed one of the largest free agent contracts ($240 million) in baseball history. Cano is from the Dominican Republic.