Music, popular jargon, rivalries and passion in the stadiums are some of the manifestations that take place in the country every year in October when play ball is sung and the winter baseball season begins, the great party of the Dominican Republic.
This is the inspiration of the INICIA firm to present the book “The Art of Baseball”, a portrait of Dominican culture represented by its star sport, captures the games of the complete winter baseball season 2021-2022 and the Caribbean Series, held in the country that same year.
In the act of presenting the new book, the president of INICIA himself, Felipe Vicini, said that this is a visual and different publication in narrative terms.
“The Art of Baseball is a look at the baseball as art and culture, where passions and customs that converge around the sport and that are part of the daily life of Dominicans are portrayed,” explained Felipe Vicini.
And even more so, “this book”, another contribution from the INICIA Collection, is the first to capture baseball from a unique perspective, with the artistic gaze of Andy Brown, a British baseball painter, and the narrative of Dionisio Soldevila, a Dominican chronicler, filling of colors and strokes our identity”, he added excitedly.
The details behind the novel book
Because baseball is one of the most powerful manifestations of collective identity in the Dominican Republic, much material has been written on the subject for years.
Thinking about it, about what the Covid -19 pandemic also implied for the sports field and trying to leave something different and quality coated in memory, INICIA chose a vast British baseball painter, and a Dominican chronicler for the completion of this great work.
Thus, The Art of Baseball, contains the paintings and drawings of the Englishman Andy Brown and the text of the Dominican Dionisio Soldevila, which seek to capture that piece of our recent history and share it with all the Dominican fans. Dionysus was Andy’s counterpart.
Both flowed, one as a guide and author of the words and the other, an external observer and creator of the images, they approached various dimensions and moments with the eyes of narrators and explorers, telling the stories of the Regular Season, the Final Series and the Series of the Caribbean, through portraits and scenes of what happens in each game, in the streets and neighborhoods around the stadiums.
Portraits to be seen in “The Art of Baseball”
In the Art of Baseball, not only do portraits of bat and ball athletes appear, but also of chroniclers, stadiums, and fans.
For this reason, as a preview, INICIA announced that fans will see Marcell Ozuna there, who plays with the Atlanta Braves and who received the Most Valuable Player award in the LIDOM final in the 2021-2022 edition. Also Junior Lake, Jeremy Peña and Emilio Bonifacio.
The work also includes Rudy Rosario, the number one fan of the Águilas Cibaeñas, who wears completely yellow.
In addition, commentator and journalist Franklin Mirabal and former Major League Baseball player and Cooperstown Hall of Famer David Ortiz, “Big Papi.”
About the INICIA Collection
INICIA Collection is a virtual library that has the editorial collection of INICIA, a private asset management firm. It captures diversity and the best of Dominican culture. The eleven published books are available through the web portal www.coleccioninicia.com where they can be downloaded for free from Apple iBook and Amazon Kindle, totally free.