Sugar

Miguel “Sugar” Santos is a young pitcher with dreams of playing major league baseball in the United States. Miguel lives in relative poverty with his mother, younger sister and brother. While training at the baseball academy, Miguel gets the opportunity to advance to United States’ minor league baseball system playing for the Kansas City Knights. Miguel leaves the Dominican Republic to start his new life in a small Iowa town. When Santos first arrives to the United States he has to overcome the culture shock. Aside from his other Latino teammates, no one else speaks Spanish. Although his host family is warm and welcoming Miguel still feels isolated.

Initially when Miguel arrived to the Minor Leagues he played very well. He was a fan favorite because of his curveball. However as time passes his performance starts to wane and fans begin to lose faith in him. In addition, the Knights bring in a new player, one of Miguel’s friends from the baseball training camp in the Dominican Republic. Miguel begins to break under all the pressure and decides to take an alternate path: leave for New York. Upon his arrival in New York Miguel finds temporary shelter at a hotel. He finds work part time as a dishwasher and as a carpenter. Miguel begins to make new friends that can understand him. He meets other baseball players that walked paths parallel to his. Although the compensation for his new lifestyle does not pay as much as a baseball player's salary, Miguel is much more content with his new found life.

I chose this movie as one of my artifacts because it dives into a very important aspect of Dominican culture, baseball. Many Dominicans grow up playing this sport and it is the nation’s biggest pastime. Many Dominicans see baseball as an avenue to getting out of poverty and making a way for themselves. Some even sacrifice their education for this dream. I can relate to this because it is similar what I have seen in my culture. In African American culture many young men often believe basketball is their ticket out of poverty. They have the same dreams of making to the NBA and also sacrifice their education to do so. In both cultures there is a hunger to escape the woes of poverty and attaining the American Dream.

Here is a YouTube video of the Sugar movie trailer.

Here is an additional video that discusses baseball in the Dominican Republic.

Works Cited

Boden, A. (Director), & Fleck, R. (Director) (2008). Sugar[DVD].