..::Dominican Summer League::..

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC’S SUMMER LEAGUE

The Summer League of Dominican Republic, started its operations in 1985. Mr. Sal Artiaga, president of the National Association Professional Baseball League, and Mr. Freddy Jana mentored this league. This League initiated and continued under the presidency of Mr. Jana.

In the first year the participant teams were:

Indios del Valle(La Vega), Arroceros del Nordeste(San Francisco de Macorís), Piratas del Atlantico(Puerto Plata), and Andulleros de Santiago. The team from Puerto Plata was the championship winner.

In this TOP they played the professional format and each team was had a minimum of four veteran players.

By 1987 the league expanded to the province of San Pedro de Macorís. That year they played in two divisions, one in San Pedro de Macorís and another one in El Cibao. In 1988 the creation of the present division league ocurred, that is two divisions in Santo Domingo, one in San Pedro de Macorís, and another one in El Cibao. In this same year began the final format of players. They were either recently signed or with less than three years experience as professionals.

At the present time, the the Dominican Republic’s Summer League, has numerically the biggest amount of teams in the National Association. It counts 34 teams, which is four (4) more than the existing ones in Major Leagues. Our league has five organizations at the present time and they have two (2)teams as well. The organizations are Oakland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York Yankees, and Cleveland.

The most significant profit of Dominican Summer League is that about two hundred Latin Americans players had begun in our league.