Panel and Film Screening on Baseball in the Dominican Republic, with Professor Rob Ruck

On Wednesday, February 15, Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) organized the discussion panel “Baseball in the Dominican Republic: Opportunity and Responsibility,” with Rob Ruck, Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh.

Ruck stressed that the Dominican Republic
is the country that contributes the greatest number of baseball players to the Major Leagues. “This country is a source of talent. It does not compare with any other country. It represents the largest concentration of talent in the history of baseball,” affirmed the University of Pittsburg professor.

Ruck conveyed that one of the principal problems of baseball is the abuse suffered by young aspiring talent at the hands of talent managers when they are being prepared to
sign. “The industry of baseball generates a lucrative business of young talent that has even been compared to child trafficking.”

Scouts, commonly referred to as buscones, deceive families, charging unjust commissions for signing and occasionally falsifying the documents of players to obtain better opportunities, explained Ruck.

The invited scholar spoke with great enthusiasm and respect about the start of the Dominican National Sport, expressing that
Dominicans have constructed a reputation in the sport, despite the limitations that the first players encountered during the twentieth century, referring to the success achieved by baseball legends like Osvaldo Virgil, Felipe Rojas Alou, Juan Marichal, Manuel Mota, Horacio Martinez and Tetelo Vargas.

The discussion session was followed by the presentation of the film The Republic of Baseball: Dominican Giants of the American Game, written and produced by Rob Ruck. The
documentary is based on the book by Ruck, The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic.

The documentary was edited by Mecklermedia, in 1991: Carroll & Graf in 1993 and the University of Nebraska in 1999. He received the MacMillan-Society Award for American Baseball Research (SABR) in 1991.

Rob Ruck is a professor of sports history at the University of Pittsburg. He is also the director, producer and writer of Kings on the Hill:
Baseball’s Forgotten Men, a documentary about the Negro Leagues and the role of the sport in the Black community. He received an Emy for Best Cultural Program for this project in 1994.

Related links:
www.republicofbaseball.com
www.history.pitt.edu/faculty/ruck-cv.php