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by Andy

When I was a school-aged chap, the worst and most agonizing days were the days leading up to Christmas vacation. These days were soaked with unbridled anticipation and excitement. The clock ticked slowly, the calendar wouldn’t budge and we were resigned to our perilous fate...

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Movie Review of Ballplayer: Pelotero

First check out the Crawfish Boxes and the review of the movie over there by wgr56.

I recently resubscribed to Netflix and it's library of online movies because we've got a new addition to the household and I felt it would be worthwhile to have something to watch while helping feed and burp my new son Jimmy Nolan De Block. Pelotero was the first movie I decided to watch with my new baby boy and Netflix subscription and I was far from disappointed.

Pelotero is a documentary about the life of Dominican Republic kids trying to sign on with a Major League baseball club. The documentary directed by Ross Finkel, Trevor Martin and Jonathan Paley follow two such players in Miguel Angel Sano and Jean Carlos Batista. John Leguizamo -- who I'll always remember as a Super Mario Brother -- narrates the documentary.

The documentary touches on everything I've heard about in regards to teams signing players out of the Dominican Republic and even opened my eyes to how Major League Baseball and it's teams may be using some shady methods to try and sign players. Even if you're not into baseball there's a human element here that would interest anyone. 

The documentary appears to takes an unbiased approach to tell the story of these two players but does use some cinematography techniques to enhance the emotion of some scenes. This isn't a bad thing as it makes the documentary more interesting and appealing to watch. The documentary is 77 mins long and at the end of it I was wanting more. I wanted to follow another player or to maybe even dive into how these players were adjusting to professional baseball in the states.

The film being shot in 2009 I searched for the players in Baseball Reference and found that they have been adjusting to baseball just fine. If you want to avoid finding out which team each player signed with then do a search of each player after you've watched the movie. 

Overall Pelotero is an excellent documentary for baseball fans and non-baseball fans. It gives a view of what players like Wandy Rodriguez, Jimmy Paredes and others have had to go through, and still have to go through, to get to professional baseball in the states both as a player and person. 

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Just saw this on Twitter

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Dylan Thompson to Bruce Ellington FTW!

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Connor Shaw to Ace Sanders Touchdown

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Ace Sanders Returns a Punt For a Touchdown

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Dylan Thompson to Nick Jones in First Half Outback Bowl

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Jadeveon Clowney Destroys

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Dylan Thompson To Ace Sanders For Touchdown

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Connor Shaw To Damiere Byrd For Touchdown

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The thing that stands out to me is the $20 price tag

c. 1980s Houston Astros Christmas card.

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Love this!

CATCH THE EXCITEMENT!

Fake ad inspired by this.

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Brilliant!

Inspired by: “Delayed Honor” by Ed Wade

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DJ Swearinger's Big Hit and 15-Yard Penalty

Things that make you go WOO!

And here's the penalty. It's a stupid penalty but it's a fantastic GIF.

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Apparently This Counts As Pass Interference

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Dylan Thompson to Bruce Ellington

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The GIF You've Been Waiting For: The Return Of Orbit