[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E336-E337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FOR WINNING THE 2007 
                     CARIBBEAN SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 13, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate, Las Aguilas 
Cibaernas, the team representing the Dominican Republic at the 2007 
Caribbean Series, for winning the championship on February 7. Wearing 
jerseys emblazoned with the words ``Dominicano Soy'' (I am Dominican), 
their pride in their country and in the game of baseball was evident as 
the team dominated this year's Caribbean Series, where they won a 
record five of their six games during the Series. Dominicans have once 
more demonstrated that they are the forerunners in the all-American 
sport of baseball. The Dominican Republic has now won 16 Caribbean 
Series titles, the most by anyone country in the history of these 
championship games. The Dominican Republic has won seven out of the 
last 11 Caribbean Series, demonstrating their passion and commitment to 
the sport.

[[Page E337]]

  Baseball is the national sport of the Dominican Republic and many of 
the best Dominican born baseball athletes play for U.S. Major League 
Baseball teams. Even in the poorest rural villages throughout the 
Dominican Republic, boys are swinging bats in well-tended baseball 
fields. They move with an athletic grace and throw without fear. They 
play barefoot sometimes, and swing with the entire body in one fluid 
poetic arc. They practice day in and day out with hopes of one day 
being the baseball player. They play for the love of the game, which is 
why professional baseball scouts from the United States go to the 
Dominican Republic in droves.
  About 500,000 Dominicans live in New York, the city's second-largest 
Latino group after Puerto Ricans, according to census officials. The 
majority of New York's Dominicans live in and around Washington Heights 
in Upper Manhattan, part of my Congressional district. Baseball is a 
year-round sport for them. In the winter, after the baseball season 
finishes in the United States, they enjoy the Dominican baseball 
season, which includes the Caribbean Series games. This year the Series 
was watched by over 700,000 fans all over the world, the highest 
viewing ever.
  Please join me in congratulating the team from the Dominican Republic 
for an outstanding demonstration of commitment, dominance and pride at 
the 2007 Caribbean Series.

                          ____________________