Day 1: Baseball City

Today, I went to a place known as "Baseball City." It houses the academies of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, the Minnesota Twins, and Baltimore Orioles. They all opened in 2004, and are very close to each other, each with their own two fields. The physical academies are the same, and pretty nice. They have offices, a meal room, and a gym on the first floor. The second floor has all the housing for the players (they sleep 8 players to a room in bunk beds) and a large entertainment room, with a satellite TV.

I got there early, and the players were about to get into games. Their schedule is pretty set in stone; they get up around 7 AM, do basic training most of the morning, and then play a game against another team at 10:30. I got to watch some of them; it was fun and the players are very competitive. After the games, they have lunch (I got to eat with some of the players), relax, and then do English classes (although it's unclear how intense and real these really are).

I mostly spent the day making connections, but did get a good talk with the Director of the Minnesota Twins. He told me about the academy and the lives of the players, and we talked a lot about their connection with the community, which will probably be the focus of my study. He told me that they have very informal projects, such as providing equipment to local schools, helping local kids with baseball fields, and teaching baseball. It seemed it was not a priority, and they just did something when it was convenient. This should serve as a sharp contrast to other teams I visit that have formal projects (like building schools or funding programs). My overall goal is to evaluate these projects and make recommendations, so hopefully teams like the Twins can launch formal projects, rather than continuing their informal practices.

I also got to talk to an American working as an English teacher for the Twins...it was really interesting to hear his thoughts; he has done it everyday since March, and thinks that the players put a lot into learning English. He also claims that it's a good barometer for how well they do as players. I will observe his classes later this week. Problematically though, he didn't know of many other academies with teachers or classes. Although all the other academies claimed to have classes, when I went around, it was hard to find something going on.

One other interesting aspect; Baseball City is extremely close to Boca Chica, so it seems like the players can get here on the weekends. But right next to the multi million dollar facility was a small, poor town full of shackled houses and kids running around without shoes. I plan to go down there and talk to the kids to see how, and if, the academies impact their lives. It was a pretty powerful juxtaposition, however. This country is suffering through a veritable economic crisis; everybody I talk to notes the difficulties they're going through. You wouldn't know it, though, when you visit the extremely fancy Baseball City. There's a disconnect, and I hope to explore ways that baseball can help bridge the gap.