By Mark Alpert
I’m going to the Dominican Republic this weekend, so today’s post will have to be brief. The coach of my son’s baseball team is Dominican, and he invited all the boys (and a few dad-chaperones) to come to his hometown and play a few games with the local kids. The DR is renowned for its baseball talent, so we’re expecting to get creamed.
It occurs to me that this trip could be the setup for a comic spy thriller by Graham Greene: a bunch of clueless, middle-aged New Yorkers bring their teenage sons to Santo Domingo, bearing gifts of donated baseball gloves and bats. Crazy hijinks ensue, involving Caribbean drug lords, CIA company men and unscrupulous scouts from Major League Baseball.
If I were writing this thriller, I’d try to work A-Rod into the plot, too. Talk about screwball comedy!
Working title: Damn Yankees
Sounds like it’s going to be a blast down there Mark.
Reminds me of the time I had my church youth group out in a park playing a little soccer. There were four of five Hispanic guys sitting on the bleachers holding a soccer ball just watching. I invited them to join us, they agreed. Then one of them said, ‘Us against you”, there were fifteen of us.
They mopped the pitch with us. Turns out they were semi-pros up for a competition, just chillin’ with the locals.
I’d read that. Who doesn’t like hi-jinks? Especially with Caribbean drug lords.Throw in a little teenage romance between your boy and a local girl and you’ve got yourself a YA, ready to sell.
Sounds like the makings of an excellent story! You should write it!
Sounds like a book I’d read. Have fun in the DR.
Have a great trip, Mark.
That sounds like a great story, Mark! Have fun!
Check out La Romana. I hear this is where all the “RICH” (talking seriously rich here) baseball players and golfers go to disappear. I’m setting a segment of my Incognito series in La Romana. And then (serious drumroll) there’s the cigars and factory tours. My head spins, just trying to imagine. Please post pictures of the place.
Have fun!
The book’s a great idea. Might even make a great movie!
Mark–
That’s writers for you. They can’t do anything for itself alone–it’s bound to morph into “material.”