Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos Part II: To Work

Working on the baseball field at the orphanage. A little over a year ago it was just a rocky field.

Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos Orphanage-Part I: The Children

The future photographer, pleased after snapping a nice picture.

A few moments later.
Walking to class...

This boy was blind and used his hands to get a sense of what we looked like. He is sitting in his house- the kids are broken up into small groups for more of a family-like setting.


This was the most spirited game of marbles I have ever seen



This kid had a hell of an arm.

Visit to El Mamon

These photos are from a visit to a village called El Mamon that is very close to the Red Sox Dominican Baseball Academy complex. This was the location that the original group from "Lindos Sueños" built a school and a baseball field. The players, coaches and Red Sox staff all received a warm welcome and a lot of attention from the local children.

Dispatch from the Dominican Republic

I'm down in the Dominican this week documenting a program called "Lindos Suenos."
It's a Red Sox/Jet Blue sponsored program that brings a group of teenage American and Dominican ballplayers together. They split their time working in the community and playing baseball games.

This morning we visited an orphanage nearby called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos. Aside from touring the facilities and photographing the kids in action I'm happy to say I had plenty of time to dig holes and plant shrubs behind the new baseball field that the Lindos Suenos group got started last year. We'll be returning on wednesday so that the kids can play on the field that they worked so hard to build and maintain.

I met one young boy at the orphanage who said he wanted to be a professional photographer (picture above). I let him use my camera and he took hundreds of photos. Most of them are out of focus, but I think I have a new best friend.

More to come on this trip soon...

All Star Game

I had some problems with my laptop in St. Louis so I was unable to publish this blog post until I got back to Boston. So after much delay here are some selects from the All Star Day.
I have to say all in all I really liked Busch Stadium. I wish I had gotten to explore it a little more but security was a bit tight because of the president being there. I can't complain however-they gave me a photo position right next to dugout, about two feet from Joe Madden, which made for some nice wide-angle images.

Dispatch from St. Louis

I made it to St. Louis today despite having neglecting to pack until this morning and having a bit of a late night.

We landed in a monsoon but thanks to the rain there was a four-hour rain delay at the futures game so I was able to get to Busch Stadium in time to catch Red Sox prospects Junichi Tazawa (on the bench and not pitching after warming up before the delay) and Casey Kelly (in action).

These are two of the most hyped guys in the system. Tazawa got a lot of press after skipping pro ball in Japan completely to sign a $3Million contract with the Sox and has been pitching well for Double A Portland. Kelly is a blue chip shortstop who happens to have such nasty stuff the Sox can't help but use him as a pitcher. After his first pitch of the game today he fielded a hard grounded with as much grace as, well, a shortstop.

Anyway, pretty sweet view from 22 floors up...more All Star week pics coming soon

Sox Swipe One from Oakland Last Night

Jacoby was actually caught in a pick off before stealing second base here...I love the expression on Orlando Cabrera's face in the second image.
Still one game up the Yankees as we inch closer to the All Star break.

Moody Weather at Fenway

But at least the rain is holding off...

Nomar's Return (& My Return to Blogging)

It's been a couple of weeks since my last blog post, and even longer since my last Sox-related blog post, so my apologies for the delay.

Last night was the first time Nomar had been back at Fenway since getting traded in the middle of the 2004 season. Everyone around here knows what a huge deal it was at the time, and everyone anywhere knows what happened at the end of that season. Shoot, it was such a big deal it even made it into a best man's speech I gave (believe me, it was relevant).

The fans gave him a minute-long standing ovation and as I was photographing it through a 400mm I could see him getting choked up. I was glad that the fans did that because what is the point of holding a grudge?