Dominican Republic could skip 2009 baseball classic

Santo Domingo.– The Dominican Republic won't participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic unless the Latin American nation that is home to a plethora of Major League stars is considered as one of the venues.

"If we do not receive any of the phases, we will not play in the 2009 World Classic," Leonardo Matos Berrido, general director of the Dominican team, told the press. "We sent a formal request to the organizing committee of the World Classic last November, and they didn't even have the courtesy to respond in either way."

The committee that determines the makeup of the Dominican team called a press conference on Monday in Orlando to announce its decision and lodge its complaint.

Hector Pereyra, president of the Dominican Baseball Federation, said his country deserves the recognition because of its rich baseball history. Countless great players, including Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero, were born and raised in the Dominican Republic, where they learned to play baseball on many of its barren sandlots.

"We believe that the Dominican Republic deserves this kind of opportunity, to present events of this magnitude," Pereyra said. "Over the past 30 years, our country has produced the largest number of foreign players in the Major Leagues."

I have covered 2 Caribbean World Series and the World Baseball Classic.

Here are the facts. The CWS was held at Estadio Cibao, which was renovated recently and looked very good. It is, in my opinion, better than the Estadio Roberto Clemente in Carolina last year; which has this almost aqua carpet for turf.

So the infrastructure is in place in even a second city like Santiago. The capital obviously has more hotels, and is a more logical choice to host an event.

Now lets be realistic. The DR cannot host the semifinals or finals. The WBC is a MLB initiative, and it's primary purpose is, not only to spread the popularity of baseball world wide, but to also make $, and a lot of it. If you have any doubt about that, take a look at the $237 jerseys, and $35 hats that were on
sale at the event.

The question that needs to be asked is- Are there enough Dominicans willing to pay up to $60 a ticket for the games?

If we base it on the turnout for the CWS this year, then I have to say the answer is "no." There were too many empty seats at Estadio CIbao, even for the Licey-Aguilas games, which usually pack the stadium for a Tuesday game in October between the rivals.

The tickets were supposedly all sold and not used. I don't buy that. Baseball crazed DR fans don't decide not to show up for Licey-Aguilas games, nevermind when they are set at teh CWS stage.

The tickets were priced way over what could be reasonably afforded in the country. I think MLB recognizes that DR may not be a suitable place to make $. The ticket prices are steep, and then we get into the merchandising issues which adds to the bottom line of the tournament.