Wagner, James. “The Dominican Republic Loves Baseball, but Steroid Problems Run Deep.” The New York Times. November 4, 2022.
This recent piece from the New York Times shows the dire state of relations between the MLB and the DR. Wagner explains how player safety is compromised at the early level and how the problems are perpetuated by corporate neglect. Intentionally loose regulations create situations as described below, wherein young players are encouraged to commit crimes in hopes of chasing professional baseball. These issues manifest in three main ways: identity fraud, verbal agreements, and steroid use.
The MLB’s office in Santo Domingo is around for this reason, with the MLB’s website stating that the company has an office on the island for the purpose of ensuring that teams are following the country’s laws. This project aims to bring more attention towards how the lack of an equitable relationship between the MLB and DR creates more issues. For that, there is no better example than the New York Times drawing attention to the ways young players are pressured to perform.
“A scout looks at your player and if he’s already 16 years old, he’s too old,”
Wagner, James. “The Dominican Republic Loves Baseball, but Steroid Problems Run Deep.” The New York Times. November 4, 2022.
..said Felix Mena, a private trainer who began working with Mejia when he was 15 and said he runs a drug-free program. “So with a kid at 12 years old, you have to start getting him to compete and doing things that shouldn’t be done. It’s the system that sometimes carries people away. And there’s poverty, so it’s something social. And you can buy a lot of stuff without prescriptions, like pills and injections. It shouldn’t be like that.”Mena is not exaggerating about the ages of the players involved. Unlike players in the United States or Canada, who are drafted after high school at 18, or after multiple years of college, international amateurs can sign as free agents with M.L.B. clubs as young as 16. But in the race to secure the next great talent, teams often reach verbal agreements with players several years younger than that, creating a frenzied market that critics argue breeds corruption and steroid use.
Wagner, James. 2022. “The Dominican Republic Loves Baseball, but Steroid Problems Run Deep.” The New York Times, November 4, 2022, sec. Sports. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/sports/baseball/jenrry-mejia-dominican-republic-steroids.html.