Winterball (1993)

The end of the World Series marks opening day for hundreds of major and minor league ballplayers who wing south to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela for WINTERBALL. This one-hour special documents six weeks of the Venezuelan League campaign of the 1992-93 Cardenales de Lara, of Barquisimeto, a bustling industrial city of 750,000. We profile players from various major league organizations seeking to sharpen their skills and gain valuable experience in preparation for the 1993 season. Each Venezuelan team is permitted to fill its roster with up to 7 Americans, or "importados." Baseball, not soccer, is the most popular sport in Venezuela. If an American player believes Winterball is an opportunity to kick back and play a little ball on the side, the Venezuelan fans and owners will soon correct that misconception. This highly pressured competition, along with the difficulties of adjusting to a foreign culture has been the undoing of many talented players. The Cardenales manager is former Toronto Blue Jay, Garth Iorg. Pitcher Doug Linton, who has since played with the California Angels and Kansas City Royals and infielders Doug Strange, a former Chicago Cub, Texas Ranger and presently with the Montreal Expos, as well as the San Francisco Giant's Jeff Kent are among the players profiled. Even more so that Nathan Kaufman's previous production MINOR LEAGUES/MAJOR DREAMS, WINTERBALL documents an aspect of baseball about which very few people know. It is also a story of Americans adapting to living and working in a third world country, dealing with a language barrier and coping with the lack of the small and large conveniences they are used to back home. Simply put, some players can hack it and some can't. From being quarantined to a Caracas hotel for two days during an attempted coup to vastly inferior playing conditions, cold showers and rabid fans, WINTERBALL can make for a very long season