Film explores the lives of Dominican baseball players

by Jim Bickal, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — The Dominican Republic is famous for the large number of major league baseball players it produces. Alexi Casilla, Francisco Liriano and Carlos Gomez of the Twins were all raised in that small Caribbean nation.

A new movie, "Sugar," tells the story of a young man from the Dominican Republic trying to make it as a professional baseball player in the United States. It's the creation of New York-based filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden.

They talked with Minnesota Public Radio's Jim Bickal about what they learned when they went to the Dominican Republic to research the story.

Broadcast Dates

• Morning Edition, 04/24/2009, 6:25 a.m.