I.    Introduction

¶ 1         As a child, one who asked what I wanted to be when I grew up was treated to the naïvely comical response that I was going to be "a doctor and a basketball player, like Dr. J." It never occurred to me that Julius Erving was not a medical doctor as well as an athlete of superhuman capabilities. It never occurred to me that I was a girl. It never occurred to me that I was a short girl. It never occurred to me that I was a short uncoordinated girl. I was going to be a doctor and a basketball player. In the Dominican Republic one need not ask its children what they want to be when they grow up- the answer is always pelotero.²

¶ 2         The relationship between Dominicans and baseball is one that transcends metaphor and other descriptive devices. Yet when attempting to speak on the matter, I am reduced to such hyperbole and can only say that Dominicans love and pursue baseball with the passion and fervor of an adolescent boy groping beneath yards of crinoline in a limousine for a prom-night foray. Perhaps the hyperbole is good thing, as it captures the intensity of the relationship. Dominicans do not "play" baseball because is not a game, but is something on which their livelihoods often depend.

¶ 3         The insatiable Dominican appetite for baseball had me at hello. Can it be true- there is a tropical island of palms and warm tides that revolves around the pastime that has made me happy and sad in ways no other thing or person can? Si, but that's not quite the whole story, is it? There is passion, but there is poverty. There is triumph and fortune to be had for the few, but there is failure and a per capita income of $1,600 a year for the rest.³

¶ 4         The Dominican presence in baseball is nothing new. From the Nation's own storied past of beisbol romático in the early 1950's to the establishment of a structured relationship between Dominican and American leagues in the mid 1950's, Dominicans have embraced the American sport and been embraced by it in return.⁴ However, the Dominican presence is of particular importance now as so many Latin players, who are primarily Dominican, provide the labor for Major League teams. While in 1987 there were approximately fifty Dominicans playing in the major leagues, as of today 1,443 Dominican players are signed to professional contracts.⁵ In addition, as Latinos obtain more ownership and management positions within Major League Baseball, issues regarding the treatment of Latin players will likely become a greater priority for the League. Anaheim Angels owner Arte Moreno, baseball's first Latino majority owner is a prime example of this as his team is built around Dominican powerhouses like Bartolo Colon, Jose Guillen and the 2004 recipient of the American League Most Valuable Player Award, Vladimir Guerrero.⁶

¶ 5         There has been a fair amount of scholarship on the Dominican Republic's entanglements with American baseball, and I am hardly a trail-blazer. However, most academic legal commentary has focused on the responsibilities of Major League Baseball toward its Dominican recruits. My work instead aims to explore the Dominican Republic's responsibilities as an autonomous nation toward its citizens who are involved with Major League Baseball in one capacity or another. My feeling is that although the Dominican Republic is without many of the vital resources necessary to implement social change, action is required, however minor, to protect its people as the Nation is a party to international conventions and covenants that ensure a certain level of treatment toward its citizens.

¶ 6         One can only recognize certain deficiencies of the process by which Dominican recruits come to play for Major League Baseball by contrasting that process with the markedly different way in which American players become part of the League. In the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, teams may not sign high school players, making the effective minimum signing age 18 years.⁷ If an amateur athlete enters the Draft from college he is afforded additional protections by various rules and regulations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association that prevent professional teams and agents from taking advantage of him.⁸

¶ 7         Once a player enters the Draft by asking that his name be placed on the Draft List, he is protected by the provisions of the current Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement.⁹ Upon signing with a Major League team the player is bound to that franchise for a term of six years and guaranteed a minimum salary.¹⁰

¶ 8         These protections that are afforded draftees reflect what Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players' Association, also known as the Players' Union, believe is necessary for a fundamentally fair playing field between teams and players in labor relations. These mechanisms are guarantees of rights players and draftees have earned through negotiations with the League and are considered vital in maintaining evenhandedness to both teams and athletes during the process of signing American, Canadian and Puerto Rican players to fill Major League rosters.

¶ 9         While drafting guidelines apply solely to the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, this is the case simply because those are the only countries whose players are a party to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Additionally, there is no reason to believe these protections were intended to cover only American, Canadian or Puerto Rican players due to an inherent superiority of their nationality or that the protections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement must be limited to those three countries. Thus, these protective measures should be kept in mind when thinking of players who fall outside the protection of the CBA.

II.    The Country Disguised as a Tryout Camp¹¹

¶ 10         Currently however, Dominican recruits are not sheltered by like protections and the process by which they come to play for Major League teams is worlds apart from their American counterparts, despite the close geographical nexus of the two nations. These differences in the treatment of Dominican versus American athletes by Major League Baseball has raised three main identifiable issues in the past: 1) the legal signing of sixteen year old players, as well as violations of the minimum signing age by Major League teams; 2) the presence of buscones and the non- enforcement of existing regulations for buscones in the Dominican Republic; 3) questionable conditions at some Major League teams' Dominican training facilities as well as independently run academies.

¶ 11         According to Major League Rule 3(a)(1)(B), a player not subject to the Draft may be signed at age seventeen, or at age sixteen, providing he will turn seventeen prior to either the end of the baseball season in which he is signed or September first of the year in which he is signed.¹² However, it is commonplace for teams to violate the so-called "seventeen-year-old rule" and sign players who have not yet become legally eligible.

¶ 12         If media coverage of underage signings is a reflection of widespread practice, then over the past seven years such deceptions have become almost passe, prompting Dodgers Senior Vice President Tommy Lasorda to announce, "I bet you there's fifty ballplayers in the major leagues that have signed illegally."¹³ Lasorda's bold statement was prompted by the news that Dodgers third baseman Adrian Beltre was signed illegally and knowingly at age fifteen when a Dodgers scout had altered Beltre's birth certificate with white-out to make him appear to be of signing age.¹⁴ In a similar indiscretion in 1997, the Florida Marlins signed a Dominican pitcher by the name of Ricardo Aramboles for $5,500. However, an agent leaked information to the Commissioner of Baseball, which proved Aramboles was only fourteen years of age. Aramboles was released from his contract.¹⁵

¶ 13         The Cleveland Indians were also exposed for violating Major League Rules by signing fifteen-year-old Laumin Bessa, dating relevant documents in advance so as to appear that they were signed after Bessa's sixteenth birthday.¹⁶

¶ 14         In addition to the signing of underage players, teams have been known to hide prospects as young as fourteen years old at remote Dominican training facilities to prevent the children from signing with another team or from finding an agent who would demand more money for him. Once the children are of legal age they are either signed by the team or simply cut loose.¹⁷ And although Major League Rules prohibit the signing of a player under the age of sixteen, there is no prohibition against academies hosting children between the ages of twelve and sixteen.¹⁸ Another option is for clubs to pay off-the-book commissions to local Dominican scouts who groom young players, then funnel them to Major League teams upon reaching signing age.¹⁹

¶ 15         It has been suggested by past scholarship and media coverage that the practice of signing underage players is widespread. This assumption is based on the belief that the player's incentive to lie and the team's incentive to accept that lie are too great for either party to avoid.²⁰ However, it is important to note that while this could be an accurate depiction of a widespread practice, there is to my knowledge, no empirical data or research of any other kind that suggests this is so. Thus the several cases over the past decade that have received widespread media coverage may very well be the exception, rather than the rule. Alan M. Klein, Professor of Anthropology at Northeastern University and noted sports anthropologist supports this theory. Klein, who has researched Dominican baseball extensively and whose book Sugarball is the foremost authority on the subject, believes the number of actual underage signings is "miniscule" and notes that since the appointment of Raphael Perez to the Dominican Baseball office in 2000, there have been no known instances of signing players at an illegal age.²¹

¶ 16         While the problem of signing or dealing with children under the age of sixteen is perhaps the most vital age-related issue for the Dominican Republic and Major League Baseball, there also exists the problem of players presenting fraudulent documentation to appear younger than their true age in order to avoid seeming "past their prime" and less attractive to Major League scouts.²² This practice was exposed during an immigration crack-down that followed the attacks of September 11, 2001.²³ While deception regarding one's age is recognized as a survival tactic for impoverished Dominican players anxious to make a living, it is also a clear violation of United States immigration law and persistent violations by Dominican citizens could cause strife between the two nations.²⁴

¶ 17         A second major difference between the way in which domestic, Canadian and Puerto Rican prospects are signed, as opposed to Dominican prospects, is that while draftees are protected by state laws and NCAA regulations regarding the acquisition of agents, Dominican players are offered no such protection and thus find themselves at the mercy of buscones, or "finders" who take large portions of their signing bonuses.²⁵ In fact, a Dominican player can expect to part with as much as fifty percent of his signing bonus, in contrast to the three to five percent commissions that sports agents in the United States receive.²⁶

¶ 18         While there is no empirical data to suggest that player abuse by buscones is rampant in the Dominican Republic, the story of Enrique Soto and Willy Aybar exemplifies the problems of informal representation. Soto, the most famous Dominican buscon, discovered Aybar at age thirteen and molded his development as a player.²⁷ Upon signing with the Dodgers, the team released the first half of Aybar's bonus, $490,000, to Soto, who deposited the check in his personal bank account. Soto then paid the American agent, Rob Plummer, who negotiated the contract, $35,000, and finally awarded Aybar's family a lump sum of $6,250 and a stipend of roughly two thousand dollars a month.²⁸ Although Soto returned roughly $185,000 to the Aybars it is believed he is still in possession of over $200,000 of Aybar's signing bonus.²⁹

¶ 19         While Aybar received a signing bonus of $1.4 million, most Dominican players receive substantially less. Because non-draftees are signed as free agents the player may go to the team with the highest bid for his services. However, there is no floor on what a team may offer, and signing bonuses for Dominican and Latin players are small in comparison to those draftees receive. For instance, in 2000 the Cleveland Indians signed forty Latin American players for approximately $700,000. Their first draft pick, an eighteen-year-old pitcher from the United States, was paid more than one million dollars above that price.³⁰

¶ 20         The most marked departure Dominican baseball takes from the American system is in the presence of baseball academies in the Dominican Republic. There are two varieties of academies: those owned by Major League Baseball teams and those operated by buscones independently. A player finds himself in the former upon joining an American team, when he is usually unable to travel to the United States immediately. This is due to visa restrictions for Dominicans at the time a player is signed, as well as the player's individual skill level and corresponding value to the team.³¹ If a player cannot obtain a visa to train and live in the United States, or if he is not deemed a capable candidate to enter the American minor or major leagues he is required to train at his team's Dominican facility.

¶ 21         Although the Cincinnati Reds were the first American team to play in the Dominican Republic in 1935, the system of scouting Dominican players for American teams was first formalized by the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers through scouts Epy Guerrero and Ralph Avila.³² The first academy to be supported by an American team was that of the Blue Jays.³³ The purpose of academies began as a way to prepare Dominican players for the rigor of the major leagues so they would not be released by teams en masse after arriving in the United States.³⁴

¶ 22         Although academies are not a new phenomenon, in the past decade there has been increased attention paid to their conditions and the quality of life players experience during their academic stay. While some have painted idyllic pictures of academies being akin to Hilton Hotels, others argue there are serious human rights queries to be made.³⁵ For instance, Angel Vargas, President of the Venezuelan Baseball Players Association and the General Secretary of the Caribbean Baseball Players Confederation, points to several problems with Major League academies in Latin America.³⁶ First, Vargas points to the fact that children training at the academy as young as thirteen years of age are held to the same physically demanding workouts as signed sixteen and seventeen-year-old players. Vargas also lists other common player complaints about academies, including lack of security against personal and property crimes, lack of a consistent and adequate clean water supply, lack of consistent and adequate basic sanitation, the failure to maintain buildings, lack of sufficient food and nutrition and lack of a trained medical staff.³⁷ Although I do not doubt Vargas' honesty, there is no empirical data to suggest that such violations are presently occurring at Major League academies on a grand scale. Professor Klein, while admitting that some academies were "checkerboard" in the mid 1990's, stated that during his most recent research trip to the Dominican Republic he became convinced the conditions at Major League academies are no longer a concern, explaining "I've seen reports on bed sheets."³⁸

¶ 23         Regardless of the state of Major League academies, the query into human rights remains with regard to independent academies that are run as distinct and separate entities from each other and Major League Baseball. Players who stay at independent academies are unsigned youths looking to refine their skills and catch the eyes of Major League scouts who canvass these camps in search of raw talent. These facilities, by and large, do not have the resources of Major League academies and probably cannot meet their standards of proper room and board, medical attention, nutrition, and like needs. However, this is hard to gauge because of the private nature of these enterprises. One academy, Campo de Suenos, and its founder, former Dodger Manny Mota, are described in Mother Theresean terms: "Here Manny Mota has created a baseball center for hundreds of neighborhood children... Even when the Motas return to Los Angeles for eight months of the year, three cooks continue to provide free daily hot meals."³⁹ In contrast, an independent baseball academy (in past years affiliated with the Texas Rangers) owned by former Dominican Senator Victor Garcia Sued in Barranquita is described as an eight-by-ten cinderblock room behind the field dugout that holds four sets of bunk beds for academy attendees.⁴⁰

¶ 24         These issues are specific to Dominican, and other Latin American players, however, they stem from the American trend of loose regulation of Major League Baseball's activities. Since 1922 the League has enjoyed a rare exemption from the bounds of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.⁴¹ This laissez fair attitude toward the sport encourages the government to ignore possible problems or abuses within the sport. In addition, the appointment of a Commissioner of Baseball in 1921 following the infamous Black Sox Trial, left Major League Baseball to develop its own internal rules and rule-enforcing mechanisms that are largely uninterrupted by courts.⁴² For example, there is uncontested evidence that the Dodgers, in 1996 and 1997 under the actions of their head Dominican Scout, Pablo Peguero, violated the U.S. Embargo against Cuba by holding secret try-outs for two Cuban players and arranging for their defection. Despite these facts, the United States Government has taken no remedial action, leaving punishment in the hands of the Baseball Commissioner.⁴³

¶ 25         Thus, the establishment of Major League Baseball as a largely autonomous enterprise with an internal legal system has given it the ability to act solely with its own interests in mind; what is most profitable for the League has become the status quo regardless of implications that fall outside the sport, such as the Embargo or accusations of human rights violations by teams.

¶ 26         In addition, Dominican dependence on Major League Baseball for economic revenue has assured the League a favorable position with the Dominican Government. The economic crutch provided by Major League Baseball cannot be understated: a study conducted by Major League Baseball in June of 2003 showed that it injects $76 million annually into the Dominican economy through payments to players, scouting trips and donations. $14.7 million of the sum is paid directly to the Dominican Republic by thirty baseball academies that are run by Major League teams in conjunction with baseball's Dominican office. The same study shows the League has created 1,200 jobs in the Caribbean nation.⁴⁴

¶ 27         Another reason there has been no formal move by Major League Baseball to deal with issues raised by the way in which Dominicans are recruited is that the internationalization of baseball did not happen with a boom or announcement but instead has taken place slowly throughout the past few decades. Thus there was never a Dominican movement within American baseball to bring attention to the issues facing Dominican players (that is, until now). Though Dominicans have been recruited by Major League teams since racial integration made the practice permissible, there have never been more Dominicans in the League than in the present era.⁴⁵ As of 1998, almost a tenth of all Major League players heralded from the Dominican Republic and there were more Latinos than African-Americans in the League. Only California, with four times the population of the Caribbean Island saw more of its residents enter the Majors.⁴⁶ The current significant presence of Dominican Major Leaguers requires an active exploration into the way in which Dominican players are brought into the League with the aim of learning whether rampant and serious abuses are occurring and the proper response if they are.

III.    Past Academic Discourse

¶ 28         The general academic response to the process by which Dominicans come to play American baseball has consisted of calls for reform within Major League Baseball as well as calls for independent collective action on the part of Dominican players within the League. While this type of action would certainly be welcome, it is not legally mandated and has thus far come to naught, giving us no reason to believe this will change in the immediate future.

¶ 29         In the most recent commentary on the matter Diana L. Spagnulo, a law student and former Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, calls for Major League Baseball to implement educational programs for Dominican players, stating:

Educating Dominican players would serve to address the majority of concerns surrounding the current recruiting system. . . . Just as the baseball academies train players for their transition to the United States, MLB could provide ongoing education for players that would not only ease their transition back into Dominican culture, but would prepare them for vocational prospects once they return. This type of education would be invaluable for both the players and their country.⁴⁷

¶ 30         While no one would disagree that education is a vital component to solving any problem, Spagnulo's response falls short in a few key ways. First, it places the burden of providing education to Dominicans on the shoulders of Major League Baseball. It seems obvious that is the duty of the Dominican Republic to educate its own people; to place the heavy burden of general education on a private American corporation operating within the State before it is placed on the State itself, simply because Major League Baseball is a "rich" company and the Dominican Republic is a "poor" nation is an absurd notion.⁴⁸ Although I agree with Douglass Cassel's assertion that in economies with a substantial measure of free enterprise governments alone cannot guarantee social and economic rights, these rights should be guaranteed through the regulation of business by government, and should not be made the direct responsibility of businesses.⁴⁹ This is in large part because the purpose of a corporation is to make a profit and act in its own interests in order to do so. Thus while Spagnulo may be correct in asserting education by Major League Baseball would be invaluable for players and the Dominican Republic it is unclear how it would be so for the enterprise of Major League Baseball itself. Additionally, if Major League Baseball did choose to educate its Dominican recruits on a variety of matters, this education would not be answerable to governmental standards and would probably occur on paper, rather than in practice.

¶ 31         The second shortcoming of Spagnulo's analysis is that any reforms instituted by Major League Baseball would not apply to independent academies, leaving a large segment of potential Major League players still unprotected. In addition, because many players attend independent academies prior to attending Major League training camps, education in the former would be more vital than the latter and the former is not within the ambit of Major League Baseball's control. The League could institute a coercive policy that it not engage in business with independent academies unless they met the same standards as Major League facilities, but is unlikely Major League Baseball would risk losing the rich talent pool those academies provide. Even if the League did institute such a policy, it would only harm the players we seek to assist by denying them a shot at the big leagues.⁵⁰

¶ 32         The third and most important way in which education by Major League Baseball fails to be a solution is that it would not assuage the problems of abuse by buscones nor would it address the issue of lax governmental enforcement of regulation over buscones. As Lou Melendez emphasizes, "We have no control over individuals called buscones. Those things have to be regulated by the government."⁵¹

¶ 33         In their article The Globalization of Baseball: Major League Baseball and the Mistreatment of Latin American Baseball Talent, Arturo J. Marcano, a Venezuelan attorney, and David P. Fidler, a law professor at Indiana University, take the stance that as a corporation Major League Baseball deserves criticism from Non Governmental Organizations working to promote human rights and labor standards, in the same way that other multi-national corporations are subject to such criticism, if Major League Baseball engages in human rights abuses.⁵² The duo suggest that because Major League Baseball is a business the solution to unfair labor practices in the Dominican Republic is the unionization of Dominican players.⁵³ While this would certainly be an effective mechanism for change within the League it would likely never come to fruition as it requires those in power, meaning Dominican players already signed to teams, to jeopardize their job security by organizing a labor union of some sort.⁵⁴ While Latino players may favor the rewards a specialized Latino union could reap, it seems unlikely that enough players would risk being black-balled in the process, as Latino players already struggle against unfair portrayals of themselves as being hot-headed, uncooperative and over-eager to "stir the pot" and disrupt team cohesion.⁵⁵ Although collective action would assist some, it would likely earn the ire of the larger baseball community, as history shows those who push the envelope for reform are not necessarily rewarded with thanks.⁵⁶

¶ 34         Marcano and Fidler also argue for institutionalized reform within Major League Baseball through the prism of international legal mechanisms, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, arguing that although Major League Baseball is not a state party to the mechanisms they should still be held to the standards of state parties.⁵⁷ This is, however, a moral argument that ignores the complications of international law and state sovereignty, rather than a feasible legal solution. Thus the authors' proposal that Major League Baseball change the way it operates internationally by setting up an international office that would create and enforce rules that allow foreign players, agents, coaches, parents and NGOs direct access to complain about violations of Major League Baseball's international rules seems unlikely to evolve beyond a mere proposal.⁵⁸ And because the League is barely answerable to U.S. Courts it seems unlikely it would answer to academic calls for reform, particularly in the absence of concrete data that such abuses are occurring at all, let alone at a high enough rate to justify action.⁵⁹

IV.    The Response of Major League Baseball

¶ 35         The League has thus far demonstrated a lukewarm, at best, passion for addressing wrongs committed by teams in pursuit of Dominican players, issuing fines and temporary shut-downs of Dominican operations that, while punitive, are not remedial. For their signing of underage Adrian Beltre, the Dodgers were fined $200,000 and two officials involved in the illegal activity were suspended.⁶⁰ Although $200,000 will hardly break the bank for one of the most storied franchises in baseball history, it is still larger than the $50,000 fine imposed on the Cleveland Indians for signing 15 year-old Venezuelan Laumin Bessa. Although the Indians' punishment included a two-month suspension of its Venezuelan facilities this will not change the way the team recruits Latin Americans, but merely halt it temporarily.⁶¹

¶ 36         This is in accord with the League's current modus operandi of acknowledging the fuzzy notion of a "problem" without bogging themselves down in details or specific solutions. Sandy Alderson, Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations for the Commissioner's Office offers a vague attempt at appeasement, saying "I think there are significant problems that exist that we're now addressing."⁶² And while general admissions are better than denials, it would be helpful for critics, as well as the League, if the Commissioner's Office were to explicitly identify what it perceives as problems in need of solving, along with considered solutions. However, I am the first to admit that this may not be possible with the lack of current information available. For example, there is no research available regarding buscones or independent academies. Thus the League is not wholly responsible for answering questions with generalities, as the accusations against it are mere generalities. While academics like Fidler, Marcano and Angel Vargas are quick to point the finger at Major League Baseball, they have presented sparse anecdotes to support their assertions rather than concrete evidence.

¶ 37         To the League's credit, where there has been evidence of violations, such as with the underage signings, it has acted. Major League Baseball has an office in Santo Domingo to "regulate and facilitate," day-to-day operations such as conducting verifications of recruits' birth certificates in conjunction with local authorities.⁶³

¶ 38         Thus far, the most substantial response by Major League Baseball has been an agreement in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement to form a study committee with the goal of moving toward an international draft.⁶⁴ Currently, however, there has been no action toward an international draft beyond that statement of intent and I remain doubtful as to whether an international draft is practically feasible. This is largely due to the fact that it would require codification in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the terms of which are labored over, sometimes with the threat of a player strike by the Players Union. Even if an international draft were to come to fruition, not all agree it would be beneficial to Dominican players.⁶⁵ In addition, it would not address the substandard conditions of independent baseball academies in the Dominican Republic, nor would it regulate buscones.⁶⁶

¶ 39         In sum, Major League Baseball has no legal obligation as a corporation to act to remedy any perceived problems with the process of Dominican recruitment currently employed by Major League teams. Thus even if Major League teams employ methods and behavior that would not be acceptable today in the United States, as Marcano and Fidler assert, this is not illegal until the Dominican Republic declares it so.⁶⁷ Until that time Major League Baseball is under no obligation to act with uniform fairness toward its international recruits. American baseball standards for contract signings, training programs and the retention of sports agents have not reached the point of jus cogens and must be codified by the Dominican Republic if they are to have effect and import there. Thus, the burden falls to the Dominican Republic to act on behalf of its own people, as well as to international mechanisms to pressure the Dominican Republic to act.⁶⁸

V.    Proposed Action

¶ 40         The Dominican Republic is a member of Organization of American States, the principal regional legal system for protecting human rights under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights.⁶⁹ Through its membership or affiliation with these international mechanisms, the Dominican Republic has promised to ensure its citizens a certain degree of protection against human rights violations. Provisions of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man that are particularly pertinent to the subject of Dominican players for Major League Baseball are: Article VII, which gives children the right to special protection, care and aid, Article XI, which grants the right to preservation of health and well-being, Article XII, which grants the right to an education that will prepare him to attain a decent life, to raise his standard of living, and to be a useful member of society, Article XIV, which grants the right to work and fair remuneration, Article XV, which grants the right to leisure time, and Article XXII, which affords the right of association.⁷⁰ There is the possibility that after an investigation, it may be found that children are being denied their right to education by their stays at baseball academies or that these academies violate minors' and young men's rights to preservation of health and well-being. It is also possible that investigation would yield the conclusion that the entire system of Dominican recruitment violates the rights of children to special protection, care and aid and that the right to fair remuneration is violated by the proportionately low signing bonuses received by Dominican recruits. In addition, the right to free association may be violated when minors are kept at academies without contracts, simply for the purpose of hiding recruits from other teams.⁷¹ Lastly, if the academies are as strenuous as has been depicted by scholars, they may violate the right to leisure time.

¶ 41         In light of these international human rights obligations, I feel it is necessary for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate with a fact-finding mission, as the Dominican Republic has possibly violated these mechanisms by failing to enforce its own laws in place to regulate the baseball industry, failing to act ethically by allegedly being "on-the-take" from buscones and failing to protect the rights its children who attend academies with substandard conditions or are signed illegally by teams, as well as the prior reasons I have stated.⁷²

¶ 42         The Dominican Republic has the duty to ensure that all international legal wrongs committed in its territory have been dealt with to the degree that international law requires. It seems that scholars have been hesitant to critique the Dominican Republic for allowing these possible abuses to occur within its borders because it is easier to criticize big business than a small developing nation where the annual per capita income is $1,600 a year.⁷³ And while I recognize the obstacles facing the Dominican Republic regarding the implementation of a regulatory structure for the recruitment of Major League players, the fact remains that as a member of the Organization of American States and a party to the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and that American Convention on Human Rights, the Dominican Republic has the legal and moral duty to ensure the rights its citizens are guaranteed by such membership. If these alleged wrongdoings are not investigated and either disproved or affirmed and remedied, these international regional mechanisms will be weakened, as will be the credibility of the Dominican Republic.

¶ 43         Thus, I recommend the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights carry out on-site observations of the recruiting process, prepare a report on possible human rights violations and make recommendations to the Dominican Republic for the enforcement of existing measures and the adoption of new ones to remedy any problems the Commission may find. Because the Dominican Republic has welcomed the Commission to its territory in the past, it would be likely to do the same in this instance.⁷⁴

¶ 44         To date, the IACHR has conducted 87 on-site visits in 23 member states to explore allegations of human rights abuses in the Americas.⁷⁵ The Commission has visited the Dominican Republic five times since 1961 and in its 1999 report on the Country identified ten main categories of human rights issues that are pertinent in the Dominican Republic: Political and Juridicial Organization, the Right to Judicial Recourse and the Administration of Justice, the Right to Life, the Right to Humane Treatment, the Right to Personal Liberty, the Right to Freedom of Thought and Expression, Prison Conditions and the Situation of Prisoners, the Situation of Haitian Migrant Workers and their Families, the Situation of Women, and the Situation of Minors.⁷⁶ The Situation of Minors is particularly relevant to Major League Baseball's Dominican Affairs, as recruits are often under the age of eighteen. In its report following its 1999 on-site Dominican visit, the Commission made several key findings and recommendations concerning the situation of minors in the Dominican Republic. The Commission identified minors dropping out of school to join the workforce as the most serious problem Dominican children face. It also reiterated that Title II of the Dominican labor code prohibits children below fourteen years of age from working and that despite that provision, the early insertion of minors in the work force has resulted in the frequent abandonment of their education. The Commission recommended that the Dominican State adopt programs to ensure strict surveillance of the situation of minors, especially those who have been victims of domestic violence.⁷⁷ The issues identified by the IACHR with regard to the treatment of minors should be examined further, with specific attention paid to their relation to the way in which Dominican children seek to play for Major League Baseball.

¶ 45         Just as past Dominican on-site visits have been successful so would this observation. Because executives of Major League Baseball and officials within the Dominican government have acknowledged problems with the recruitment of Dominican players to some degree, the Commission would likely be able to engage them further, becoming better able to accurately assess the situation. Input from Dominican Baseball Commissioner Jose Daniel Calzada, Jose Escarraman, president of the National Association of Independent Baseball Programs, Rafael Perez, the manager of baseball's Dominican office, Dominican and Latin American scouting directors for Major League clubs and Lou Melendez, Major League Baseball's Vice President of International Operations and Dominican Sports Minister Cesar Cedeo would be vital to the Commission. In addition, the Commission could interview scholars, journalists and authors who have experience with the issue. For instance, Professor Alan M. Klein has spent considerable time in the Dominican Republic studying the intersection of Dominican and American baseball. Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post has also contributed to the information currently available regarding Major League Baseball's Dominican involvements.

¶ 46         Finally, the Commission could solicit interviews from players who have attended or are attending baseball academies, both Major League sponsored and independent, to get first-hand accounts of the conditions at such camps and whether players feel abused or mistreated. The IACHR could also solicit interviews with known buscones as well as players who have dealt with them to gain a more accurate understanding of the system and whether the rights of Dominican minors are being violated. It could also seek to speak with players who were signed illegally as sixteen-year-olds in an attempt to understand whether the underage players were being pressured by buscones or their families to lie.

¶ 47         An official fact-finding mission of this kind would be extremely helpful for the Dominican Republic because it would help the nation begin to assert some control over what has been uncontrollable in the past. It would also help Major League Baseball by assuring their practices in the Dominican Republic are legal and ethical under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Covenant on Human Rights. Lastly, such a mission would lay to rest any false accusations being made against the Dominican Republic or Major League Baseball by scholars who have, in the absence of empirical research, seized upon scattered media coverage and personal anecdotes and declared that gross human rights violations are occurring.⁷⁸

¶ 48         In the event the IACHR believes this issue is not grave enough to warrant an on-site investigation, I would urge them still to consider engaging in fact-finding without on-site observation, as is sometimes practiced when on-site visits would be impracticable, costly or exhaust human resources.⁷⁹ Many of the interviews I have suggested would still be possible through the telephone, letter correspondence and email.

¶ 49         Regardless of whether a visit is on or off-site the Commission has the authority to consider a wide variety of sources in drafting reports. For example, in the report detailing its 1997 on-site visit to Columbia, the IACHR drew from official legal codes, legal texts, jurisprudence of Columbian tribunals, reports of State institutions, information provided by non-governmental human rights organizations in Columbia, information from the press, as well as information provided by international human rights organizations, in addition to that it gathered during its on-site visit.⁸⁰

¶ 50         Should the IACHR find the allegations of various mistreatments and abuses to be true, the Commission could make a variety of recommendations to the Dominican Republic to remedy the situation. For example, it could urge the swift passage of la ley de portas, a bill with the aim of gaining governmental control over buscones that is currently being bounced around the Dominican Congress.⁸¹

¶ 51         In the event that both on and off-site observations are declined by the Commission, a symbolic recognition of the issue at hand would still be a powerful step in the direction toward accurate fact-finding by independent scholars and action by the Dominican Republic to act within its current resources to remedy problems. In addition to its power to conduct observations and prepare reports, the IACHR has the general power to "develop an awareness of human rights among the peoples of America."⁸² Because this promotion of human rights awareness is not explicitly limited to formal observations and reports, perhaps the Commission could issue a statement that they are concerned about the treatment of Dominican citizens who are being recruited by Major League Baseball and they would like to see remedial action taken by the Dominican government and/or Major League Baseball. Although non-binding and purely symbolic, this may still be an effective way to promote human rights in the Dominican Republic as an acknowledgment without formal recommendations would be better than no acknowledgement at all.⁸³

VI.    Conclusion

¶ 52         If you are left a tad confused by this analysis, it is warranted, as I myself am confused. This is not a simple issue, as it involves international law, a multi-national corporation, an impoverished nation and a sport that elicits a great deal of passion by both players and critics. The human rights violations that have been alleged in connection with Major League Baseball and Dominican citizens are serious, but lack the horrific imagery that genocide, mass rape, torture and other human rights violations unfortunately do not. This combination of facts may leave you wondering why I feel this issue deserves attention in a journal of international human rights. The answer is simply that human rights violations of any kind, however small, in an ideal world should not be tolerated. Sadly this is not an ideal world. But I see my job as an academic to include a certain degree of hope and idealism. I recognize that other crises may take precedence over this issue. However, if you, the reader, take only one thing from this scholarly venture into the realm of professional sports I hope it is that human rights are not merely an abstraction confined to the academic or political realm, but are a set of values to be kept in mind in everything we do. Even small acts such as buying a ticket to a baseball game have consequence for someone else someplace else.

¶ 53         Until credible empirical research is conducted that sheds light on which allegations against Major League Baseball and the Dominican Republic are fact and which are fiction, I cannot say with certainty that human rights violations are occurring. I also cannot say with certainty that they are not occurring. This troubles me, as it should trouble you.

¶ 54         I began my argument with an anecdote to communicate my passion for sports and the entertainment, hope and escape they provide. I am grown-up now, and am neither a doctor, nor a basketball player (though I am still short and uncoordinated), but I am still a lover of baseball and I am not eager to see the game prosper at the expense of Dominican youth who also love the game, and deserve better from it. If wrongs are being committed, they must be righted, and if no wrongs are being committed, then ... you guessed it- play ball!

ENDNOTES