Otter Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 I don't think Ortiz is 33 years old. Generally, with Dominican ballplayers add 3 or 4 years to their stated age. I think he is probably 35 or 36. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFSIKH Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 I don't think Ortiz is 33 years old. Generally, with Dominican ballplayers add 3 or 4 years to their stated age. I think he is probably 35 or 36. DR players lie about their age? Can't blame them with all the money being thrown their way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otter Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 DR players lie about their age? Can't blame them with all the money being thrown their way. The Dreamers and the Schemers In the Dominican System, Young Stars Play While the Street Agents Work It By Barry Svrluga Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, March 9, 2009; E01 BANI, Dominican Republic Before Ivan Brea sat down on a cement slab here one morning last week, the parade of kids carrying buckets back and forth from a well marched non-stop for an hour, because you can't play baseball on a field made of dust unless the dust has settled. It was that way on this patch of dirt when Miguel Tejada played on it years ago, and it is that way now, when Brea's son, Ivan Jr., takes batting practice, ripping liners to all fields as his father watches from the stands. Ivan Brea Jr. is 20 years old, a catcher who signed last year with the Seattle Mariners. "That is his age," said his father. "I would not lie about that. As a father, I always taught him: If you do something like that, it's going to come and get you." Here, though, it frequently does not. On the outside of Cruz Maria Herera Stadium, where Brea's son works out, hangs a small poster bearing Tejada's picture, urging the people of the province of Peravia to attend a celebration in the shortstop's honor, because he is one of the heroes of a country addicted to baseball. It is barely mentioned that before he left this country, Tejada lied about his age -- by two years -- so that he would be more attractive to major league scouts. By the time his transgression was exposed last year, he had played 11 full seasons in the majors, won the 2002 American League MVP award and earned upwards of $50 million. The reaction here? No big deal. "I don't feel that bad about it," Brea said, sitting in Tejada's home town. "We are all Dominican. We all know where we come from. We got to do what we got to do." And so they do, even as Major League Baseball has promised to crack down on the problem, even as more and more money pours into the Dominican Republic from MLB. The cases of Tejada and of Carlos Daniel Alvarez Lugo, the shortstop who signed for a $1.4 million bonus with the Washington Nationals using both a fake age and identity, are rote here. The people of Bani don't mind. "They haven't even proven that yet," 29-year-old Javier Carsala, one of the men training a group of teenagers last week, said of Tejada. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of baseball's latest scandal in the Dominican Republic -- one that involves accusations that Nationals officials took part of the bonus granted to Alvarez -- is that here, it is largely viewed as unremarkable. The case, which led to the firing of Nationals front-office member Jos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thai Jet Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 The NO HITTER is all but certain. Beckett should be proud, the no hitter is most certainly going to happen. STFU already !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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