Day 65: December 6, 2024 – La Romana, Dominican Republic

I can’t remember the last time I attended a baseball game — high school, perhaps? I know so little about it that I’ve been known to confuse a touchdown with a home run, and call it a home down. But I’ve been schooled that Dominican Republic is where talented baseball players come from, and that there are over 100 players of Dominican origin in the American professional leagues. So when in Rome… when our shipmate Bob M organized an excursion to a national game, 80+ of us jumped on board.

We arrived at the stadium in two bus loads, where we were greeted warmly. Several times, our Villa Vie name was splashed on the big screen, and announcements were made on the loudspeakers instructing locals to “treat the white people nicely.” When they learned that one of us was celebrating a birthday, the band and audience burst into a rendition of a birthday song.

The name of the team was Toros Del Este, which means Bulls of the East. The bull mascot joined us in our section and graciously posed for pictures with every one of us.

We had a cultural exchange of sorts: we (led by Eddie) taught them how to do The Wave, and they taught us some choice words to yell at a baseball game. This very ardent fan, Hector Julio Doroteo, spent most of the evening insulting the opposing team by screaming “You pitch like a pooping mule!” The translation was courtesy of Becky, who informed me that some of his other insults were not fit for translation (or for this G rated blog). I think that’s going to become my go-to insult when I need one. There were also constant calls of “pierra, pierra!” which translates to stone, meaning, pitch the ball like a stone so they can’t hit it.

Of course, I had to make him the face of the Dominican Republic in the Faces of the World Gallery.

I learned a lot about the game from my more knowledgeable seatmates, who kept me updated on what inning we were in, and whether we were winning or losing. Unfortunately, our Toros lost, and we got home way past my bedtime (almost midnight) but the whole evening was a blast.