Share
twitterlinkedinfacebook
Image 1 of 1
0611DRBB250.JPG
Luis DeLaCruz is from Villa Bejucal. It is smack dab in the middle of miles of Sugar Cane fields. As a boy he worked those fields all the while his mother was teaching him to play baseball. He would jog more then an hour to practice everyday. About 500   people live in the village. When Luis wants to visit his mother, Luis has to take more then three finger taxis and two buses in a trip that takes five hours and cost 5000 pesos one way. Luis says that working in the cane fields damaged the skin on his face. He is almost 18yrs. old. .   Some local kids play ball in the middle of Villa Bejucal. Luis can bite a peeled sugar cane in half and eat it in just a few minutes. His mother volunteers in the local health clinic. Luis' grandfather has worked in the cane fields for more then 50 years. .The Saint Louis Cardinals maintain a baseball training camp in the Dominican Republic near  Villa Mella, just outside the capital. The players from all around Latin American are playing for a chance to go to Spring Training in Jupiter, Florida. They range in age from 16-22yrs old.