29 year old Ivan Brito
20 year old Iran Brito
Baseball is as American as apple pie. So the saying goes. It may not be the most accurate, Japan and Cuba have also had storied histories with baseball, but it implies that baseball has been at the heart of the country for more than a century. Many generations of families have grown closer as they listened, watched and now stream baseball games and they often live vicariously through their heroes of the game. It is not so much of a stretch then to realize that for the players themselves there is a certain pride and prejudice that is passed down from generation to generation. Baseball has had many father/son duos, Ken Griffey Sr and his son Junior is a great example. Baseball has also had many siblings playing the sport. The most famous (and numerous) may be the Delahanty brothers from the late 20th century. More recently we have had Jason and Jeremy Giambi. An example more central to our story may be the Alou brothers, Felipe, Matty and Jesus, from the Dominican Republic. Is in the Dominican Republic that our story begins.
Baseball is not only hugely popular in the United States, it is one of the major aspects of everyday life in the Dominican Republic. Ever since Cubans were forced to flee to the Dominican Republic during the 10 years War (1868=1878) the country has had a love affair with baseball. It was baseball that a young Felipe Brito loved most. Growing up in the 1960’s Felipe, named after the Portuguese explorer Felipe de Brito e Nicote, was always out in the yard playing stickball with his neighborhood friends. While Felipe wasn’t the most athletic kid he was smart and a very hard worker. If he finished his chores early he could catch major league games on local radio. Especially important to the island at the time were a trio of young Dominican players playing for the san Francisco Giants, the Alou brothers. The Brito family was fascinated with the Alou’s and ever since the brothers all played in the same outfield in 1963 they were a favorite of Felipe’s. The young Brito would pretend he was the Felipe (Alou) in centerfield for the Giants snatching balls out of thin air and hitting homers with abandon. Felipe Alou would always be Brito’s favorite player. He vowed that someday he would get to the US to watch his idol play in person.
Felipe turned 18 years old in 1972 and set out on his dream of living in the United States. He had saved enough money from working as a teenager to buy airfare to New York City where he hoped to find employment and make a living. In June of ’72 he set said bye to his family at home and travelled to his future. It was no coincidence that his favorite baseball player had joined the New York Yankees a few years earlier and was playing what many though were his last games in the majors. This was Felipe’s chance to see his hero in person. After settling down in a local hotel for a few days Felipe garnered the courage to purchase a ticket and see Felipe Alou in person. It was wonderful. While Alou didn’t get any hits that day he worked hard on the basepaths and never failed to run out a fly ball. The Yankees won and Brito left the stadium that day knowing that he would continue to follow baseball while in the states.
Later that year Felipe met his future wife in New York while she was visiting from the Miami area. They hit it off and soon started writing letters to one another. After a few months of correspondence the 2 of them were getting to know each other very well. Felipe knew that Miami had a large population of Dominican immigrants and decided to relocate since he now had a connection there. The budding romance turned into marriage and the couple started their life in Boca Raton, just outside of Miami. When Felipe and his wife had their first child, and it was a boy, it was certain that baseball would find its way into the youngster’s life. Felipe’s first son, Ivan, was born on November 25, 1988. Ivan had his first glove by the age of 2 and was watching baseball games on TV before he could walk. Felipe enrolled little Ivan into little league as early as he could and engrained a love of baseball into his son. Felipe and his wife had their second child in 1998 when Ivan was 10. They named the baby boy Iran. Iran followed Ivan everywhere and was soon a little leaguer himself.
Eventually Ivan was a good enough ballplayer that he started on the high school varsity team as a freshman. While he only played in 9 games, getting 14 atbats, he was starting to train every day in the weight room and learn what it meant to play against competitive teams at a higher level. By his senior season Ivan was a starter in the outfield and played in 25 games, hitting 5 homers in 90 atbats. For his high school career Ivan batted .356 with 13 homeruns and 58 RBI’s in 205 atbats. He wasn’t the fastest player but he did have power at the plate and was able to play great defense in the outfield. It must have been the many years of Felipe teaching his son to play outfield “like the Alou’s”.
Young Iran was a little leaguer as well and like his older brother, loved to play in the outfield. Iran was a little smaller than his older brother and had some speed to show for it. He was routinely place din centerfield where he could run down the line drives like no other. When he didn’t have a game himself, the youngster would try to get to the high school to watch his older brother play. It seemed like the 2 were always around each other and were very close.
Ivan was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2007 MBWBA draft by the Louisville Sluggers. It was a proud moment for Felipe as he watched his son pull on the Louisville jersey for the introductory news conference. Soon after the draft Ivan packed his bags for Slippery Rock where he would be playing for Louisville’s Rookie League team. Iran had a rough time as his big brother was really his best friend and he wouldn’t be able to see him every day like the 2 were used to. While Ivan was playing for Slippery Rock from 2007 through 2009 young Iran was playing less baseball and was more active at school and in his studies. If Ivan was going to be playing baseball a few states away, the young man though he would have to be the one to take care of his father and mother. The family was poor but wanted to provide everything they could for both Ivan and Iran. While Iran was playing baseball less often, Ivan was immersed like never before. He loved playing ball and liked the camaraderie of his fellow players. He quickly became one of the team leaders and his on field play started to improve. After hitting .261 for Slippery Rock in 2009 Ivan hoped that he would be promoted to Louisville’s Single A affiliate in Ocala. Ivan was starting to think he may be able to make a career out of baseball. And better than that, he could now play in front of his family as Ocala is a few hours from the Brito house in Boca Raton. Ivan played for Ocala during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Felipe and Iran made it to most of Ivan’s games. During the end of 2010 Ivan was playing very well and he made it his goal to make the Sluggers AA squad the following year. The hard work paid off as Ivan made Louisville’s AA team Alabama. He played well for Alabama in 2012 (11 homers and .271 average in 117 games). He was showing that his power was effective at the higher levels and he could still play great defense in right. Felipe and Iran were able to make it to a few games but not as many as they would have liked. Iran was still concentrating on his school work and was earning very high grades in middle school. He was taking honors courses and was looking forward to high school. Ivan started out the 2013 season in Alabama but after hitting 11 homers in 63 games he was promoted to AAA Missouri for the rest of the year. He only hit .224 in 46 games and had zero homeruns. He vowed to work during the offseason and do better in 2014. Ivan went back to Boca Raton during the offseason and worked with Iran almost every day. He concentrated on his swing and putting more power into his follow through. After having zero homers in Alabama Ivan vowed to be more of a force at the plate.
In early 2014 Ivan was claimed off of waivers by Montreal. His minor league options were up and while Louisville thought he had talent they didn’t have room on their 40-man roster to protect him. Ivan hoped that Montreal saw that he could play and he was right, he opened 2014 with Fort Wayne, Montreal’s AAA farm team. Ivan had a good season with Fort Wayne and hit 15 homers in 484 AB’s. His average suffered as he hit only .224 but he was happy with his power numbers. His hard work had paid off and he rededicated himself during the offseason to improve his eye and contact ability. Again Iran was there to help as Ivan was trying to improve on the field. During the 2014-2015 offseason Ivan was not protected in the league’s Rule 5 draft and was selected by newly relocated Yellow Springs. While it was Ivan’s 3rd franchise in as many years he saw this as a positive sign. Yellow Springs was interested in giving Brito a spot on their 40-man roster. The fact that the team was also in a rebuilding mode meant that he would likely get a chance at making the big league club. Ivan arrived at Yellow Springs with decent power, and improved eye, and a determination to prove he belonged. Ivan found out that Yellow Springs had an opening in their lineup for a rightfielder against lefties and he was confident he could fill the role. After a strong spring training in 2015 he made the big league squad and was playing against lefties for Yellow Springs. Felipe’s dream had come true and his son was a major league baseball player. The family was ecstatic and watched every Yellow Springs game they could. Ivan felt instant gratitude that he was able to help Ivan work on his hand/eye coordination and help his older brother make it to the Monty. Ivan played well in 2015, seeing action in 56 games and hitting 11 homers in his 172 atbats. He filled the void for Yellow Springs that season and had been told he would be penciled in at the same role pending any offseason moves. Behind the scenes Ivan was preparing to help his family which had previously given him so much help and support. Ivan’s first paycheck went to fund his little brother Iran’s college education. No longer would his family need to worry about money or their future, he could provide for them.
Iran enrolled at college and decided to try out for the baseball team as a walk-on. He didn’t play high school ball as he was concentrating on getting good grades to help out his family. He started to practice with his the college team and the coaches soon took note of the quick centerfielder with a great bat. He was outplaying the current outfielders from the initial training games and immediately found out that he could play really well. It seems as though all of those offseason sessions preparing his older brother for the step up to the big leagues actually helped younger Iran prepare for college ball.
Felipe would spend 2015, 2016 and 2017 watching his oldest son playing rightfield for the Yellow Springs Nine and watching his youngest son dominate college pitchers while playing centerfield for his college team. Every once in a while Felipe lets his thoughts wander back to the Alou brothers that he used to watch as a young bot back in the Dominican Republic. He now knows how their dad felt watching his sons live out their dreams on the diamond. Baseball is not only in the country’s heart but ingrained in Felipe’s heart as well.