Dec. 2, 2014
Now that the Commodores are back in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave (and good reliable internet), take a look at what the team experienced in the Dominican Republic last week.
This is the first installment of the team’s photos from the trip. Check out the full photo gallery along with the photos and stories below.
This is how our trip started last Sunday. A rain storm came through that morning and soaked the local playing fields, which of course had no tarps. When we arrived none of the locals seemed overly worried or at all and shortly after our arrival they showed us why as they went to work. Groups began working with giant sponges to soak up the standing water in the outfield, while a group went to work on the mound and one of the coaches dug a trench to drain water off the infield. After a couple of hours of work and sunshine, we were ready to play.
During batting practice and the game, locals lined the outfield wall to watch. Jordan Sheffield and Ryan Johnson tryed out their Spanish with the locals during BP.
As we were getting ready before the game and waiting for the field to try this group of teenagers strolled onto the field and wanted their picture taken with the team. The girl in the blue in the middle, it was her 15th birthday. The Dores sang happy birthday to her in English and Spanish.
Different country but same routine, the Dominican Army Band even played our Anthem for us.
During and after the game a group of local kids hung out on our dugout to watch the game. ‘
The local crowd came and went, including lots of scouts. The crowd went crazy when the Army team belted a three-run homer in the middle of the game to take the lead.
Former Commodore and current Texas Rangers Director of International Scouting Gil Kim was excited to meet the Commodores on Monday morning at the Rangers’ Dominican Complex.
You can see just about the entire Rangers complex from here, which consists of the building in the background and two fields. The buildiing houses the coaching staff and the entire roster. The manager said he stays inside the gates (all the complexes were guarded) 255 days of the year.
Following Monday’s games the Dores visited a local sugarcane village to hand out hygiene packets. Trust us, these two little girls were way nicer than they look in this photo. Joey Abraham’s and Mike Portu’s Spanish skills came in big time here.
Amazingly, none of the kids were shy and immediately took to the team like they had been waiting all day for us to show up and play. At one point, Ben Bowden was holding five kids but two fell off before we could get a picture.
This was their field, ankle high grass and three horses on the field. Animals on the field kind of became a theme of the trip with horses, roosters, cattle (see below) and dogs all becoming regulars on the field with the Dores at the same time. The kids in the sugarcane village were amazing, playing with a broken in half, hollowed out aluminum bat and a ball that had no cover. They could all hit and loved to run.
As we got ready to leave the first sugarcane village, Coach Corbin’s wife Maggie jumped on a motorcycle and took off to meet us at the next village. Pretty sure that was not part of Coach Corbin’s planned out day.
At the next village, we held a baseball clinic for the kids in the area and about halfway through the clinic this herd of cattle strolled across the outfield. Coach Jewett works with a youngster on pitch grips. The cambio (change up) was a local favorite.
This is Felipe and he pretty much took over the clinic. As you can see Felipe is a pretty big deal with a left-handed glove on the wrong hand and his sugarcane in his mouth, he’s just a few years away from the big leagues.
This also became a trend for the trip, sleeping on the bus so you can do this later…
More photos from the trip tomorrow.
