This morning, blazoned across a full page color picture of SD’s Quisqueya Stadium, the sports section of Hoy used two-inch red type to declare "Approved: RD will be site of big league opening." But on page two it recounted how U.S. Baseball Commissioner, Bud Selig, just fell short of offering a guarantee. Responding to insistent questions by Dominican reporters who crossed his path in Seattle, where they had accompanied President Leonel Fernandez, Selig said, "Your country is present in our plans and we are creating the conditions for this to happen." He went on to say that he is "almost certain" that the RD will host a big league opener in "the near future." In a survey conducted by CNN this past March 29th, 38% of the respondents selected the RD as the "best option" for the site of next season’s opener. The big league player rosters this year list players of 17 nationalities. With 66 players on regular rosters, the DR ranks second after the U.S. Seattle Mariners coach, Pat Gillick, who was also cornered by Dominican reporters, affirmed his support for a staging an opener in the RD " For a long time I’ve been aware of the talent of Dominican players," he said. (7 April 2000)
