Yesterday– July 1st 2013– a delegation of executives of the New York Yankees, along with Casa de Campo villa owner Roberto Weill, founder and president of the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame (Salon de la Fama del Beisbol Latino) visited the President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina, to tell him about the construction of the spectacular “Latino Center Stadium” in Benerito (near to Bayahíbe), a community within the La Altagracia province.
The Latino Baseball Town complex of which the stadium will take an investment of $120 million dollars, and promises to heighten the Dominican baseball prestige and contribute to tourism in the entire country.
UPDATE:
Despite what you may have read elsewhere, the New York Yankees will not be responsibly for fully funding this project. In fact to raise the funds needed, the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame (Salon de la Fama del Beisbol Latino) will form a private fundraising group, supported by the New York Yankees. Of course as this is a new project, many details are yet to be confirmed.
Roberto Weil talking with President Danilo Medina
The visit took place around 10:30 am in the President’s office, located in the National Palace in Santo Domingo.
Among the New York Yankees executives was Mr. Félix López, vice president, Emmanuel García, director of Latino Affairs, Joel Lithgow, director of the Yankees Academy in the country, Roberto Valentin, Yankees public relations, the president of the DLR Group (responsible for the construction of stadiums for the Yankees), and architect Stan Maradith.
Also present, were several representatives of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame, such as Rafael Avila, Claudio Florentino, project manager and the Dominican lawyer, Vinicio Castillo, as a special guest.
Robert Weill and Félix López with Vinicio Castillo
The President’s reaction
After the meeting, the delegation gave a press conference, in which Felix López– vice president of New York Yankees– said: “Danilo Medina was very excited about the project because he is a true baseball fan”.
He continued by saying that Danilo Medina is very proud of the proposed stadium construction as well as the entire Latino Baseball Town project — which will have a big impact on economic and tourism growth in the country, especially in the Eastern region.
After all, López said, how is it possible that in the country that produces the most baseball players in the world, does not have a baseball stadium fit to host a game of the World Baseball Classic.
“This is a project of extraordinary magnitude. We are trying to further magnify the importance of baseball in the Dominican Republic,” declared Félix López.
Project preliminary description
During the press conference, Mr. Roberto Weill shared some preliminary details about the project– which includes the construction of the Latino Center Stadium, as well as 4 baseball academies within the Latino Baseball Town.
Robert Weill talking to the Dominican press in the National Palace
According to Mr. Weill’s estimations, of the $120 million of dollars required to complete the entire project, 50 million will used for the construction of the stadium. To finance the project the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame (Salon de la Fama del Beisbol Latino) will form a private fundraising group. This is a financial engineering project.
Weill indicated that the project has the full support of the New York Yankees – a union concreted over the years thanks to the success of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame and their ability to organize and internationalize the Latino baseball world.
Once completed, the stadium will have a capacity for 20 thousand fans – making it equivalent to a major league stadium.
According to Weill, in its first phase, the Latino Baseball Town will have 4 “6 star” baseball centers for the training and development of national players, as well as players from other countries.
“The stadium will be located 30 minutes from Punta Cana, 10 minutes from Casa de Campo, four minutes from La Romana airport, 40 minutes from Puerto Rico, about two hours from Miami, and less than four hours from New York, where Yankees play…
We’re in the land of baseball, in the country that has the Latino Baseball headquarters, in the country that has the credibility of the present and future of baseball.
We are the baseball capital of the world.”
— Roberto Weill, president of Latino Baseball Hall of Fame
The project is being designed by the architectural firm that builds the stadiums for the New York Yankees… and the executives believe Danilo Media could throw out the first pitch before his term ends.
INMORTALES, the first Latino Baseball magazine of it’s kind features heartfelt testimonials with the 2013 Baseball Luminaries (Octavio Rojas, Teodoro Higueras, Rennie Stennett, Juan Igor González, Tony Fernández, Antonio Armas, Santos Amaro, Victor Davalillo, Victor Pellot Power, Felipe Clipper Montemayor and Julián Javier), interviews with Tony Peña and Bernie Williams inducted into the class of 2012, as well as with great baseball stars of today; Manny Ramirez, Edwin Encarnación and Miguel Tejada.
Spanish
