Unreported World

Dominican Republic: Baseball Dreams

The Dominican Republic provides almost 20% of professional baseball players in the United States. In a country where many are very poor, the sport is one of the few routes out for young men. But the cost of failure at 18 years old can be devastating. In the United States, Major League teams can't sign a player until he has a high school diploma, usually at the age of 18 or 19. Dominican Republic law allows children to leave school at just 14 and sign when they're 16, so the US teams can sign them up earlier. As a consequence, the teams pay the most for players when they're 16. But these boys know they have a limited shelf life. In two years they will be worth a lot less and may have missed their chance to get signed at all.