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
|