D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
September 2009
Tim Bravo, Baseball
Page: 2Competition is always intense, as is the pressure. Bravo recalls one instance where 150 baseball scouts were on hand to watch a single Cuban kid try out.
"But you can really feel the love for the game that these kids have," he adds. "It's exactly like you seen in the movies — kids playing baseball in the streets."
On a more somber note, he says, "Every person in the US should go to a developing country to see just how good we have it here. In the DR you see soldiers with guns [in the towns], and of course there is nothing like that here, it is different — much different."
The Dodgers' academy at Campo Las Palmas has about 40 players. Those numbers narrow and the odds increase the higher the player gets into the Dodgers minor-league system.
Baseball's minor leagues are broken up into different divisions, from AAA, the highest, with Albuquerque being the host to that Dodgers farm team, to short-season A leagues and instructional teams or extended spring training.
Counting the Dodgers' players from the Dominican Republic, Bravo says, "There are about 12 to 15 in Arizona, 10 at Ogden, and probably six each at Midland and San Bernardino."
Bravo's summer travels also took him to those other cities, where he observed classes to see how Latino players/students are doing. In the lower minor leagues, in places such as Ogden and Midland, host families are often used to house players each summer, which can also make for some cultural challenges for the players and the families.
"It's really a culture shock for these kids to come to the US," Bravo says. "So we're trying to eliminate some of that. But it's also interesting every time I visit one of the facilities. It is the goal of the Dodgers for these kids to get paid for playing baseball and to learn another language (and culture), and to try and help them get an education. If they play baseball now, what are they going to be able to do later? The goal is to educate these kids and help them to communicate."
Getting to each city in the Dodgers' far-flung organization is probably Bravo's least favorite part of this job. "I'm not much of a traveler, but I'm getting used to it."
That didn't keep him from going to spring training this year, though, and his eyes light up as he recalls the experience at the Dodgers' new training facility in Glendale, Ariz., Camelback Ranch.
"In spring training, some of the (Latino) pitchers worked together with American catchers to learn Spanish," Bravo says, "so in spring training, we had classes for catchers and middle infielders (second basemen and shortstops), and the goal was always the same — to make steps forward."
In 2007, before getting his job with the Dodgers, Bravo had a more personal opportunity to get a taste of Dodger blue. The ex-WNMU third baseman participated in the Lasorda League, named after famed former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda. The Lasorda League is a sort of fantasy camp; attendees form four teams and play ball against one another at Chavez Ravine, home of the Dodgers.
"We got to wear Dodger uniforms, hit infield, take batting practice, and do everything," Bravo recalls happily. "All we did was talk baseball, and I kept saying to myself, 'Am I really here?' I felt like a 45-year-old kid, and this is every kid's dream."
He again credits White, his friend since college, with hooking him up with the Lasorda League and spring training, along with Jane Capobianco, the Dodgers' manager of scouting, and Adriana Urzua, the coordinator of minor league administration.
They have all helped show Bravo the other side of baseball, the one beyond the field and the dugouts. He repeatedly emphasizes that it's the people he works with who make his job what it is, along with the hard work that the young men do to grab a piece of the American dream.
When Bravo first starts talking about what he does for the young people in the Dodger organization, he's a bit shy and reserved. But soon he's as openly enthusiastic and excited as if he were sitting in a stadium with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth and the winning run at bat.
With a humble tone but a happy glow as if the former third baseman just drove in that run, Tim Bravo says, "It's an honor and a privilege to do what I do."
Senior writer Jeff Berg used to dream of playing second base for the New York Mets, which he insists is a much better team than the LA Dodgers. Thanks to Patricia Gonzalez for the introduction to Tim Bravo.