Venezuelan Bust, Baseball Boom: Andr駸 Reiner and Scouting on the New Frontier (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780803215719)

Though Venezuela is sandwiched between two soccer-mad countries--Brazil and Colombia--baseball is its national pastime and passion. Yet until the late 1980s few professional teams actively scouted and developed players there. This book is about the man who changed all that and brought Venezuela into Major League Baseball in a major way. While other teams were looking to the Dominican Republic for new talent, Houston Astros' scout Andr駸 Reiner saw an untapped niche in Venezuela. Venezuelan Bust, Baseball Boom recounts how, over the next fifteen years, Reiner signed nearly one hundred players, nineteen of whom reached the majors. The stories of these players--among them Bobby Abreu, Joh疣 Santana, Melvin Mora, Carlos Guill駭, and Freddy Garc?--are interwoven with Reiner's own, together creating a fascinating portrait of a curious character in the annals of sports and a richly textured picture of the opening of Venezuela as baseball's new frontier. Countless interviews broaden and deepen the story's insights into how the scouting system works, how Reiner worked within it, and how his efforts have affected the sport of baseball in Venezuela and the significance of Venezuela in the world of Major League Baseball.

Author: Milton H. Jamail
ISBN-10: 0803215711
ISBN-13: 9780803215719
Publisher: Bison Books
Language: English
Published: 04/01/2008
Pages: 284
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.02h x 6.28w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Multicultural Review 09/01/2008 pg. 59