The two most successful teams in the Dominican Republic’s baseball history head to Citi Field on Friday for a three-day exhibition series captivating the city’s Dominican diaspora.
Los Tigres del Licey and Las Águilas Cibaeñas will play three games in New York City for the first time in the history of the Dominican Professional Baseball League, also called LIDOM, an acronym of its Spanish name.
Even people who don’t usually care about the sport have made plans to attend the series, which is being billed as a battle between the “Titans of the Caribbean.”
“Why wouldn’t I go, it’s going to be something legendary, you know, something that’s going to impact the world, so people can really see where the real talents come from,” said Kevin Vasquez, while standing on the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 168th Street in Washington Heights.
Up and down the block, everyone had their attention fixed on the upcoming games. Every person Vasquez stopped to talk to while making his way to the nearby restaurant he helps run has an opinion on — or tickets to — the three games.
Vasquez called out to Hilario Villio, who owns a party supply store on the corner of 169th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, to emphasize that point.
“Are you rooting for Las Águilas or Licey?” Vasquez asked.
Villio shook his head quickly to tell Vasquez he didn’t care for either. He roots for Los Leones del Escogido, the third-most-successful LIDOM team. But personal preferences didn’t stop him from buying tickets, so that he could attend with his son.
“Your body feels good when you watch a game in this country between Licey and Las Águilas,” he said in Spanish. “Of course, I feel good.”
Baseball’s roots in the Dominican Republic date back to the 1870s, when sugar plantations dominated the Caribbean, according to cultural anthropologist Andrew Mitchel, who has studied the island’s baseball history.
Members of the Cuban upper class first saw the sport when they visited the United States for business and…
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