Books | Sports

June 30, 2008

Venezuela's Baseball Pipeline

Milton Jamail tells Gelf how one scout sensed opportunity in an economic bust and helped change baseball.

Nick Matros

For the past 20 years, Milton Jamail has been living a double life. When he wasn’t lecturing on Latin American politics and economics at the University of Texas, he was reporting on young baseball prospects for the Houston periodicals. His new book Venezuelan Bust, Baseball Boom: Andres Reiner and Scouting on the New Frontier combines his two interests by depicting the relationship between economics and baseball scouting in a country whose players—including Johan Santana, Bobby Abreu, and Melvin Mora—have dazzled American baseball. Jamail takes us on a journey through the back roads of Venezuela, giving us first-hand insights into the life of a scout in a land where the romantic notion of finding the diamond in the rough still exists.







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- Sports
- posted on Sep 18, 08
kent Lambertson

Nick,
I was telling my brother I had met Geno Petralli.
I told my brother how Geno had attended Sacramento California schools. He entered MLB through the amataur back door draft. He played for a Venezuelan team and later Toronto/Oakland & eventually catcher for The Texas Rangers Basebal. Please enlighten. Thanks, Kent

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