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Is the draft killing PR baseball?

01/19/2012 By Leave a Comment

There is no debating that baseball is big business. Fans in the U.S. suffer through football season while they watch the off-season bargaining. Winter ball, in Puerto Rico, used to serve as both a diversion from winter doldrums and a way to allow fresh, young talent to be seen by major league scouts. However, recently, winter league play has seen a steady decline in both fans attending games and the number of teams.

The winter league has a proud history and many are pointing fingers at MLB officials for baseball’s decline on the island. In 1990, P.R. was included in the major league draft. “The draft has had a large effect on the Puerto Rican baseball player,” said Alomar, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in July. “A lot of youngsters don’t have the economic resources to play and go to college. For me, it isn’t what is best for us.”

Read more at NY Times.com.

Filed Under: Sports
About Eileen Rivera

Eileen was born in The Bronx, to Puerto Rican parents. She grew up thinking the whole world was Latino. Moving to Rockland County in upstate New York taught her it wasn’t. One more move in 1976, brought her to Hudson County, New Jersey where she currently resides. She attended Rutgers-Newark where she majored in Social Work with a minor in Puerto Rican studies. Eileen credits her history professor, Dr. Olga Wagenheim, for the spark and impetus to search out her roots in a pre-computer era. The daughter of a minister, she credits her father for the activism, volunteerism and search for justice that have characterized her adult years.

The mother of two adult daughters, Eileen has worked in the Juvenile Justice system for twenty-eight years. She acts as a liaison between the Juvenile Detention Center and the Juvenile Court.

Writing was something she shared with family. Stories and songs for her children and Christmas tales for the extended family. She now shares her writing with a larger family, the Being Latino family.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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