We’re talking Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s 2009 gem Sugar. Leading off, we walk through the plot (6:06) and review the film (17:33). On Inside Baseball, we talk about baseball in the year the movie came out (42:48); We give a full breakdown of modern baseball culture in the Dominican Republic (46:39), including representation of Dominican players in MLB and the many different Dominican Leagues; We investigate the wild history of how baseball first came to the D.R. (56:46); We discuss Major League Baseball Academies in the D.R. as a source of developing talent and their impact on their local communities (1:07:02); We highlight the career of Osvaldo “Ozzie” Virgil, the first Dominican player in Major League Baseball (1:19:50); We take a look at the tradition of minor league players living with local chaperones during their stay in the minors (1:25:13); and Paul introduces a new trivia segment to the show (1:28:25). Sliding into home, we rate the movie (1:34:45) and preview next week’s episode.

Play Ball: Baseball at the Movies is produced by Paul LeSchofs and Andrew Knopp. Our theme music, Slow Burn, was created by Kevin MacLeod. Our mascot was designed by Yehudi Mercado. Our intro uses clips from the following films from which we do not claim any ownership: Field of Dreams (Universal Pictures), The Natural (TriStar Pictures), Moneyball (Columbia Pictures), The Sandlot (20th Century Fox), Bull Durham (Orion Pictures), and A League of Their Own (Columbia Pictures). Follow us on Twitter @BaseballPodShow and Instragram @playballpodcast.

*Discussions regarding current baseball news may be out of date.