Sources for Epifanio Guerrero in 1989 Sporting News?

[TULSA OILERS]

I am doing some research on Dominican baseball for my senior thesis. I traveled to the D.R. A few years ago as part of my research.

I am looking for an archived copy of the 1989 Sporting News that named Epi as the 16th most prominent man in major league baseball.

Any help is appreciated.

[VIBaseball]

If you know a SABR member (or are one/join yourself), this is a perk of membership.

[TULSA OILERS]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I do not know a SABR member.

How does one join?

[jalbright]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I do not know a SABR member.

How does one join?

You can go to this page, and if you're willing to pay the fee, you shouldn't have any problem: http://sabr.org/join

[TULSA OILERS]

That certainly is something to consider. I am still living on a student budget, but I hope to join SABR in the near future. It looks like an invaluable resource for my focus of history.

[titorondon]

Epy Guerrero is a cofounder along with Rafael Avila of the Academies and the Rookie League, keys in the development of baseball in the DR. If you run across the story of his signing Brent Alyea in Sports Illustrated, though, take it with a grain of salt. He is fun to talk to. Best of luck.

[TULSA OILERS]

Thanks for the info, titorondon. I visited with Epy when I went to the D.R. I can attest to his hospitality and accomplishments. I know he has a great deal to do with the Dominican movement. Do you happen to have any information on his affiliation with the Rookie league that I would able to cite as a source?

[titorondon]

I interviewed Rafael Avila a few years ago, he told me that when a certain number of Dominicans had been signed, the total was many more than could play in the Winter League (Lidom), but they were drafted by the teams anyway (for the future). All they did was show up and get paid a nominal amount. So Epy said, if we are paying them, why not play them and help develop them sooner? So they started doing that in a small scale.
Avila then sold the Academy concept to Al Campanis of the Dodgers, and soon enough Peter O'Malley showed up in the D.R. and Campo Las Palmas was built; other teams more modestly followed suit and mixing both concepts the Dominican Summer Rookie League was born, and the academies took off.
Andres Reiner took the concept to Venezuela and showed that you do not wait for a country to have dozens of prospects in order to build academies, but rather, if you build academies you will develop hundreds or thousands of prospects. MLB was slow on the uptake, but they are taking timid steps forward by having academies-camps in Brazil and Italy, for instance. In Nicaragua individuals such as Dennis Martinez have academies, and a flourishing "buscon" network is flourishing, and so are prospects.
I do not know if someone has written a book or not.

[TULSA OILERS]

Interesting. It seems to me that the Dominican export was a Dominican creation. At least the modern incarnation (say past thirty years). I know that L.A. And Toronto were the first to put roots in the D.R., and I figure Toronto's involvement was due to Epy's affiliation with the Blue Jays.

So what is your experience with Domnican baseball being labeled "sweatshop baseball"? Has Rafael mentioned anything about that? Or has the "glass ceiling" effect affected the D.R. As a whole?

[titorondon]

In the mid 80s a draft was instituted by MLB for the DR; it was a huge failure.
Most MLB academies are a nice break from poverty for most kids, however, when they let you go it is very traumatic: the end of your dreams, going back to poverty.
Some academies could do better schoolwise.
The buscones training grounds tend to be very primitive, I can understand the term "sweatshop" used to describe a lot of this, but nobody can argue that it has meant decent housing and a little education for thousands of families.
Avila lives in South Florida with frequent travel to Las Palmas, and Epy is 100 per cent quisqueyano, so the academies are a definitely a Dominican creation. The fact that MLB has been slow on the uptake indicates that too.