At 11:50pm this Friday, 18 February 2011, BBC2 will show the premiere of the baseball movie “Sugar”.
There is no better way to get the members of Herts Baseball Club in the zone for this Sunday’s first Spring Training outdoor session than with one of the many great Hollywood movies.
By 2008, more than 25 percent of major league baseball players were born in Latin America. At 19, Miguel “Sugar” Santos, a serious kid from the Dominican Republic, signs with Kansas City. He flies to Phoenix for tryouts and is sent to the Class A team “The Swing” in the fictional town of Bridgetown, Iowa, where he lives with a farm family. Thus begins his odyssey: leaving his mom and girlfriend; living in an alien culture; learning English; overcoming jitters; working hard; achieving early success; navigating friendships, and a woman’s mixed signals; dealing with an injury; and, searching for his place in the world. Will he make it to the Majors; will he play in New York?
This little-known movie proved to be a big hit when it was released. Enjoy.
If you missed Friday night’s showing, you can watch it again on BBC iPlayer (Parental Guidance: Contains strong language): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ythc3/Sugar/