BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN BASEBALL The Oakland A's team up with the Wheelchair Foundation and 80 Dominican organizations to donate 2,500 wheelchairs to those in need.

Baseball in the Dominican Republic is simply not a game or the national pastime –it is national pride and identity. Nowhere in the world are baseball slogans an integral part of common day language for social situations, advertising, and even politics. Without exaggeration, “la pelota o beisbol” forms part of  “la dominicanidad”.

Baseball was introduced to the Dominican Republic in the last decades of the 19th century. Dominican professional teams were organized at the start of the 20th century and by the mid-30s, perhaps the best quality baseball in the world was played in this island nation. With the emergence of Dominican players on major league teams in the 1950s and the resurgence of the winter leagues, Dominican baseball entered a new era.

Today over 40% of the major and minor league players are from Latin America, and the Dominican Republic, led by stars such as Pedro Martinez, Sammy Sosa and Vladimir Guerrero (to name just a few), is the leader of this production.

ENTRENA has the privilege of playing a key role in the globalization of baseball. As a consultant to the baseball operations office of Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic and individual teams such as the Oakland A’s, ENTRENA has provided the following services:

• Management expertise for setting up and operating offices in the Dominican Republic. This includes administration, accounting, legal orientation, personnel, and budget monitoring.
  
  
• Player enrichment, English as a foreign language (EFL) and educational activities. Many times pure physical talent is not enough for the young Dominican player. Adjusting to the U.S. culture and learning sufficient English to manage baseball and social situations are key skills on the long road to becoming a major league player.
  
  
• Community Service –Teaching our players to be good citizens and giving back to the community not only provides them with valuable life skills for their future careers but also enhances the image of Major League Baseball overseas. 
  
  
• Special Projects: These include a variety of activities where baseball requires specialized knowledge about the DR. Examples include:
  
  (a) Speaking Engagements– Representatives from ENTRENA addressed both the 1999 General Managers meetings and 2000 Human Resources Directors meeting of MLB to discuss labor and personnel issues in the Dominican Republic.
  
  (b) Office Set-Up and Personnel Recruitment: ENTRENA assisted the MLB Office of the Commissioner to set up its first overseas office for baseball operations in 2000 and 2001. This included locating office space, equipping the office, and interviewing personnel.
  
  (c) Community Service: ENTRENA was the coordinator for a massive 2,500 wheelchair donation to the Dominican Republic by the Oakland Athletics and The Wheelchair Foundation of California. By joining efforts with the Asociacion Dominicana de Rehabilitacion and over 80 NGOs and church groups, ENTRENA organized an informal distribution system that channeled these chairs to the poorest of the poor needing a wheelchair in 3 weeks.
  
  (d) Special Events: After Hurricane Georges ravished the Dominican Republic in September of 1998, MLB made one of the largest private sector donations consisting of $500,000 each to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. ENTRENA organized the DR country ceremony in which this donation was given to the Red Cross.

ENTRENA has developed an unique niche of services for major league baseball in the Dominican Republic. 

For more information, please contact John Seibel at the following:

Phone: (809) 567-8990
Fax: (809) 566-3492
E-mail: johnseibel@entrena.org