The opportunity of a lifetime featured
The dreams of 17-year-old Damián, formerly sponsored through Unbound, center on becoming one of the lucky few for whom baseball becomes a path out of poverty. Like most Dominican youth, he loves the game. Unlike most, his talent caught the eye of major league scouts early on.
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When love of the game becomes the opportunity of a lifetime
In the U.S., baseball in the springtime is about hope. In the summer, the game becomes about endurance. Fall, for the fortunate few, is for glory. And in winter, baseball rests.
But in the Dominican Republic, where “la pelota” (“ball”) is a way of life and an object of passion, the game is eternal. In a nation that lives and breathes the sport, glory is not just for fall and dreamers are never out of season.
The dreams of 17-year-old Damián, formerly sponsored through Unbound, center on becoming one of the lucky few for whom baseball becomes a path out of poverty. Like most Dominican youth, he loves the game. Unlike most, his talent caught the eye of major league scouts early on.
“At first I started playing in my neighborhood,” Damián said. “I was around 5 years old. When I was 12, I started getting noticed by the scouts from the organizations and they followed me to get me to this point.”
One of three brothers now in their teens, Damián was sponsored by Mark and Mary Jo from Topeka, Kansas, from the time he was 4 until August of last year. That’s when he was signed by the Baltimore Orioles to enter their Dominican development system.
Dominican baseball’s deep roots
From the time it was introduced by Cuban immigrants in the early 20th century, baseball captured the imagination of the Dominican people.
In the 1930s, in an effort to bolster his own popularity, longtime Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo built professional-caliber ballparks across the country and paid for some of the premier Negro Leagues players from the U.S. — stars like Josh Gibson, Satchell Paige and Cool Papa Bell — to play in the DR. In turn, some of the best Dominican players came to America to join the Negro Leagues. The exchange improved the level of play in both countries and, though the major leagues wouldn’t become integrated until 1947, they took notice.
The first Dominican-born player in the majors was Osvaldo Virgil Sr. in 1956. Others soon followed and the Dominican Republic eventually became the greatest source of big-league talent outside the U.S. At the start of the 2019 season, 102 of the 882 players on major-league rosters (11.6 percent) were from that country, according to MLB.com.
A dream shared by father and son
Damián remembers the day he learned he was accepted to the academy. It was after a game in which he felt he’d played poorly. His coach called him over for what the young man expected to be a lecture. Instead, he was introduced to an Orioles scout who informed him that he’d been accepted into the Orioles Dominican training academy in Boca Chica.
Damián couldn’t wait to share the news with his dad, who’d been his first coach. He called him at home.
“At that moment, I cried and he did, too,” Damián said. “I said, ‘Papi, I'm going to make your dream come true because I'm going to be a baseball player.”
Damián’s father, Santos, is grateful that his son is now getting the opportunity he never did. He’s also grateful for the support Unbound sponsorship provided while Damián was growing up.
“For me it contributed in a significant and huge way,” Santos said. “Because in the moments when it was difficult to get food, Unbound’s help appeared. If he needed clothes, medicines or educational support, Unbound always appeared. That's why I feel immensely grateful to Unbound for the support they have given to my family.”
Going the distance
Baseball requires mental and emotional toughness. The best hitters fail two out of three times at bat. The greatest pitchers have nights when they’re sent to the showers after one inning. And even Gold Glove fielders are haunted by the memories of the routine popups that turned into runs.
For his part, Damián understands that a long road lies ahead if he’s to make it to the majors. The discipline and work ethic he developed as a ballplayer taught him the value of perseverance, and he wants to inspire other young people to pursue their dreams.
“Along the way, there will be many challenges and setbacks,” he said, “but they always have to be with their heads held high. They should never believe themselves better than anyone; they must always be humble and respect people. To fight for their dreams because, sooner or later, they will come true.”
In spite of the difficult realities in which the families of Unbound live, they have space in their homes, hearts and lives for a pet. No matter where in the world you reside, coming home and being welcomed by a pet evokes a sense of love that has no language or nationality.
Discovering the beauty of others
When you’re born into a Hindu household, go to a Catholic school for the first 10 years of your life and have friends from every religious tradition, you quickly learn the nuances of various religions. India is a land of diverse faiths. Although the majority of the population is Hindu, there’s a significant Muslim population as well as various Christian denominations in addition to Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and several indigenous belief systems.
For the most part, followers of India’s religions coexist peacefully but live and worship in separate social circles. It’s not uncommon for members of one community to hold stereotypical views of the other communities, and often these stereotypes can be inaccurate and even harmful.
I had the privilege of being born in a middle-class home that encouraged reading, asking questions and moving about in circles that were not exclusively Hindu. I saw the beauty and harmony in other religions and had the opportunity to make up my mind about my peers. I enjoyed sharing sevaiya (a sweet noodle dish) with my Muslim friends on Eid and plum cake with my Christian friends for Christmas. (Oh, plum cake for Christmas? Yes, that’s an Indian tradition that could easily be its own article!) Likewise, we all celebrated Diwali together.
Inviting mothers in from the margins
However, for those born in poverty, often the communities in which they were born are their only social support systems. They don’t have access to other sub-cultures or traditions. Among them, women are even more marginalized and often their understanding of their peers from other communities is shaped for them. They might go their entire lives with their perception of another community stemming from a narrative they’ve heard from others.
In such an environment, Unbound often provides a space for women from diverse faiths to discover for themselves what they should think about their Muslim or Christian sisters. Unbound works with mothers who organize themselves in small groups in their neighborhoods. They meet on a regular basis to participate in savings-and-loan initiatives, and also receive social support from each other. Unbound works with women from diverse faiths, and nowhere is this better reflected than in the small groups.
Oftentimes we find that some women have never ventured outside their homes prior to joining the Unbound program. When they join and start interacting with women of different faiths who are, otherwise, just like them, facing the same struggles they are, they marvel at how similar they are and how they’re only separated by labels.
Power in commonality
In my travels with Unbound, time and again I’ve heard a mother describe to me how empowering it is to be able to discover this for herself. These women have finally found the space to begin having real inter-faith discussions and to be able to support each other.
In the Philippines, particularly in the Zamboanga region, Unbound works with a significant Muslim population in a predominantly Catholic country. Staff routinely start their days with a Muslim prayer as well as a Catholic prayer. They celebrate Eid with the same enthusiasm as they do Christmas and share meals with each other.
In an increasingly divided world, the Unbound program creates a welcoming space for diverse groups of people to come together, learn, commiserate and share with each other. As many Unbound mothers have discovered, if we spend time with each other we can all learn to embrace our differences to make the world a better place.
