A Red Sox Dominican Adventure 2004

The year was 2004, the month was November and the Yanks lost to the Red Sox, hence they won the World Series, as a Yankee fan I was disgusted, but as a baseball fan in general may the best man win the game, if you want something bad enough you will get it.

A few weeks later I headed to the Dominican Republic for a birthday vacation, which was filled w/sun bathing, drinking, eating and exploring. About 4 days in I suggested a tour of the outskirts of the Dominican and Haiti, it would be a day trip  starting at 7am, ending at 8pm or so I thought.

The next morning a flat bed tour truck picked us up at the hotel (Corel Hamacus Hilton) at 7am, this flat bed truck was a site in itself. Imagine a discarded flatbed truck, with handmade wood benches forming a U shape on the flatbed portion then lined w/a few bench rows, covered w/ a ridged metal roof and chicken wire, I felt I was going into battle, thinking this rainforest excursion better be worth it.

After making several stops for other un-suspecting adventurous minded individuals, we were on our way, while glancing at the scenery, I couldn't help notice the glowing red shirts w/little Boston Red Soxs lettering, these people obviously were Americans from the East Coast particularly New England, as they glanced back to notice my navy blue Yankees baseball cap on my head, it was on, the digs began. One guy started to talk and say: "American"? as he looked at me eying my Yankee Cap, I said, "What do you think?", he replied, "With that attitude you must be NY or NJ", I replied "With that accent you must be Boston?" Lol, we all chuckled and actually became good buds on this adventure.

As we headed to the sugar cane plantations, we passed the Dodgers training camp and the Red Sox training camp, which we eventually got to explore thanks to my Red Sox friends. After a day of exploring sugar cane plantations, coffee & cigar Plantations, waterfalls in the rainforest, Haitian and Dominican villages, we arrived back at the Red Sox training camp. Two of the guys worked for the Soxs and asked the driver to stop off for a tour, they gladly obliged and basically all us Americans and two from Germany got off to explore the property.

It was quite an experience, being able to get a behind the scenes perspective of what happens at the training camps, scouting for potential MLB hopefuls to bring into the organization. Walking along the grounds and into the locker room was a highlight, meeting potential MLB players and seeing the other side of baseball was a thrill, no matter what team you root for, going behind the scenes in baseball is over the top. This was an experience I'll never forget thanks to serendipity and the guys I met on my trip.

Stay tuned for more stories, personal experience and sport adventures on Sideline Babe!

xoxo
Lisa