The presence of Latino baseball players in the major leagues is an old story. Latinos were playing professional baseball in the United States as early as the 1870s, though it wasn't until after the breakdown of segregation in the late 1940s that major-league teams began to sign black Latinos.
Since then, we've seen many Latino players acknowledged as being among the best in the game, from Puerto Rico's Roberto Clemente -- the first Latino superstar in the United States -- to the Dominican Republic-born Albert Pujols -- perhaps today's finest hitter.
Overall, Latinos now make up between 25 percent to 30 percent of present-day major-league rosters, and an even higher proportion of minor-league players. And while the story of each of these players is unique, many have achieved rags-to-riches fame as they emerged from poverty-stricken upbringings in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Cuba and other Latin American countries.
"Sugar," the excellent dramatic film about a young pitcher from the Dominican Republic, puts a new twist on this old story. Co-written and co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who had previously made "Half Nelson," starring Ryan Gosling, "Sugar" comes out on DVD this week (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $28.96, rated PG-13).
While "Sugar" explores, with accuracy and insight, the recruitment and training of outstanding prospects in the Dominican Republic by major-league teams, it goes deeper. As Boden explains in "Making Sugar: Run the Bases," a DVD documentary, "Hundreds of young Dominican ballplayers go through this process every year. They never make it to the major leagues."
The focus of "Sugar" is on Miguel "Sugar" Santos (played by movie newcomer Algenis Perez Soto), a 19-year-old pitcher from Consuelo, a small town outside of San Pedro de Macoris, who has been signed to a professional contract by the fictional Kansas City Knights. His success in the Knight's baseball academy in the D.R. leads to an invitation to attend the ballclub's minor-league training camp in Arizona. And from there he gets promoted to the Knights' A-division minor-league team in Bridgetown, Iowa.
"Sugar" richly details Miguel's experiences as an immigrant with little English in a strange land. From the difficulty of ordering food off a restaurant menu to almost getting into a brawl with white male townies after he and other Latinos dance with white women in a nightclub, Miguel tries to navigate through this mysterious world while also trying to prove that he has the talent to stay and eventually reach the majors.
That Miguel is different from most of his teammates is starkly shown in his relationship with his team's outstanding second baseman, an African-American named Johnson (Andre Holland). During a conversation in the training room, they talk about what they'd do if they didn't have baseball. Miguel can imagine no alternative, as his life has already been based on baseball for years. For Johnson, a Stanford grad, there's the choice of going to graduate school or perhaps becoming a teacher.
The Knights organization makes some effort to ease Miguel's culture shock. It arranges for him to live, as other Latino ballplayers had in the past, in the home of an older couple who provide him with meals, laundry and considerable warmth and care. But despite the efforts of all concerned, the gulf between a young man from the Dominican Republic and a white Presbyterian family from rural Iowa remains wide. And the mixed messages Miguel receives from the couple's granddaughter, who is Miguel's age, adds to his alienation.
But the most serious problem Miguel faces is a foot injury he sustains during a game. He had been pitching very well until that time, but he's not as effective when he returns to the lineup after some rest. Miguel's seen how professional baseball teams deal with players who don't regain their old form after an injury, and becomes determined that being sent home will not be his fate.
"Sugar's" authenticity is one of its main attractions. Former major-league pitcher Jose Rijo appears in the film and served as one of its creative consultants. And the actors who portray the Dominican prospects are all non-professional actors with the athletic aptitude and dramatic ability to make their characters utterly believable.
"Sugar" is that rare sports film that appeals to both baseball fans and those who don't know the difference between a slider and a knuckle curve (Miguel's best pitch). Its perceptive look at an important aspect of the international business of baseball is compelling, and the film also succeeds as a dramatic study of modern immigration.
Spoken in English and Spanish with English subtitles.
(brucedancis(at)comcast.net.)
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