If you want a cap representing any of the six teams of the Dominican Professional Baseball League (Lidom) teams, you can get it in Washington Heights at the Peligro Sports physical or online stores. They have the baseball merchandise for the Tigres del Licey, Leones del Escogido, Aguilas Cibaeñas, Estrellas Orientales, Toros del Este and Gigantes del Cibao.
The NY Times story explains about how the Dominican Lidom tournament takes place in the late fall and winter, nestled between the final out of the World Series and pitchers and catchers reporting for MLB spring training and is followed by hundreds of thousands of expat Dominicans. New York is the second largest Dominican city anywhere.
NYTimes reports that Jose Matias, the owner of the shop, arrived in Washington Heights from his hometown of La Vega, Dominican Republic in 1989, bringing with him his love of Dominican winter baseball. He started his first business in 1991, a semi-prelude to Peligro Sports called Peligro Sandwiches. The top draw was the “chimi,” a Dominican sandwhich. There were also arcade games to be played and baseball cards to be bought and traded. The store merchandise evolve because a local high school baseball star and fellow Dominican named Manny Ramirez was a regular customer and now a long-time friend of Matias’ (a signed and framed Ramirez jersey hangs in his office). When the record shop next to Matias’ sandwich business went up for sale, he bought it with the intent of turning it into a sporting goods store.
It was between 2009 and 2010, after years of renovation and investment, that Peligro Sports was born, offering a mix of Lidom caps, jerseys and other memorabilia, baseball bats and gloves, shoes, and WBC merchandise.
Matias explains that passion for Lidom baseball in New York was undeniable both then and now, giving Peligro an ongoing purpose in Washington Heights’ vibrant Dominican community.
Read more:
NY Times
9 January 2025