Day 2: Una Ceremonia para los Mets

Today, I went to the opening ceremony for the academy for the New York Mets. I got there a little early, and walked around the facility for a bit. It was pretty astounding, much nicer than Baseball City. They had three fields, one which had artificial turf (the first of its kind in the country) and one which modeled the dimensions of Citi Field, where the Mets will move next year. The actual academy looked more like a hotel than a baseball training facility; the dining room was huge, the floors were cleanly swept, and the entertainment room had two large flat screen TV’s. It is definitely state of the art.

The ceremony started late, of course. President Leonel Fernandez attended, as did the US Ambassador, the GM of the Mets (Omar Minaya), and their COO (Fred Wilpon). A lot of governmental dignitaries were there, as well as all the head baseball guys from the country. I felt rather out of place, everyone seemed to know everyone, and I knew no one.

It was quite the juxtaposition; all the players were at one side of the audience, while all the well-dressed, presumably upper class citizens filled the rest. The opening seemed more about the glamour of the facilities than the players. It re-enforced the perspective that baseball is primarily a business; everybody there realized the exuberant economic benefits to such a facility, rather than the training of the individuals.

There was a great deal of emphasis on community relations. The Mets talked about their burgeoning relationship with Esperanza International, an organization that has worked with them on distributing gloves and providing money for micro grants. It is interesting that they have a formal relationship with a local organization; I will be investigating that more in the coming days. A lot of the rhetoric did center on ensuring that the academy produced more than just baseball. They talked about creating citizens that could actively contribute to the community, and the importance that the country plays in the greater scheme of the economy and political picture.

It was an interesting perspective and I’m glad I got to be part of it. It showed how big of a deal baseball is in the country, to get the President to such an event. It was also intriguing to hear so much about community development at such an event, but will be important to unravel that; and see how much of it was about rhetoric, versus action.

The ceremony did demonstrate the effect that baseball CAN have in the country. The fact that the President of the country came for the opening of an academy shows the importance they hold for the country. On a Tuesday morning, the President decided to take a few hours out of his day to throw out a first pitch (he said nothing) at an American-run academy. Pretty astounding.

After the ceremony, the Mets played the Royals on the new field. A group of American dignitaries (led by Congressman Engel from New York) watched for around three innings, and then left. After a ceremony with hundreds of people, no one cared to watch the actual game. Baseball's much more than just a game here....it's a pretty extravagant form of the economy.