Editing Dominican Republic (section)

===Sports===
{{Main|Sports in the Dominican Republic}}
[[File:Albert Pujols4.jpg|thumb|upright|Dominican native and [[Major League Baseball]] player [[Albert Pujols]]]]

[[Baseball]] is by far the most popular sport in the Dominican Republic.<ref name="Harvey2006"/>{{rp|59}} The [[Dominican Professional Baseball League]] consists of six teams. Its season usually begins in October and ends in January. After the United States, the Dominican Republic has the second-highest number of [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) players. [[Ozzie Virgil Sr.]] became the first Dominican-born player in MLB on September 23, 1956. As of 2024, five Dominican-born players—[[Adrián Beltré]], [[Vladimir Guerrero]], [[Juan Marichal]], [[Pedro Martínez]], and [[David Ortiz]]—have been elected to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://baseballhall.org/node/1255 |title=Marichal, Juan |work= Baseball Hall of Fame|access-date=July 29, 2010}}</ref> Other notable baseball players born in the Dominican Republic are [[José Bautista]], [[Robinson Canó]], [[Rico Carty]], [[Bartolo Colón]], [[Nelson Cruz]], [[Edwin Encarnación]], [[Cristian Javier]], [[Ubaldo Jiménez]], [[Francisco Liriano]], [[Plácido Polanco]], [[Albert Pujols]], [[Hanley Ramírez]], [[Manny Ramírez]], [[José Reyes (infielder)|José Reyes]], [[Alfonso Soriano]], [[Sammy Sosa]], [[Juan Soto]], [[Fernando Tatís Jr.]], [[Miguel Tejada]], [[Framber Valdez]], and [[Elly De La Cruz]]. [[Felipe Alou]] has also enjoyed success as a manager<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sobreeldiamante.com/dominicana-busca-corona-en-clasico-mundial.html|title=Dominicana busca corona en el clásico mundial|trans-title=Dominicans looking for world classic crown|language=es|publisher=Sobre el Diamante|last=Puesan|first=Antonio|date=March 2, 2009|access-date=October 22, 2012|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116214549/http://www.sobreeldiamante.com/dominicana-busca-corona-en-clasico-mundial.html|archive-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> and [[Omar Minaya]] as a general manager. In 2013, the Dominican team went undefeated ''en route'' to winning the [[World Baseball Classic]].

In [[boxing]], the country has produced scores of world-class fighters and several world champions,<ref>{{cite book |title=An Illustrated History of Boxing |last=Fleischer |first=Nat |author2=Sam Andre |author3=Don Rafael |pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto0000flei/page/324 324, 362, 428] |publisher=Citadel Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8065-2201-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto0000flei/page/324 }}</ref> such as [[Carlos Cruz (boxer)|Carlos Cruz]], his brother [[Leo Cruz|Leo]], [[Juan Guzman (boxer)|Juan Guzman]], and [[Joan Guzman]].

Basketball also enjoys a relatively high level of popularity. [[Tito Horford]], his son [[Al Horford|Al]], [[Felipe López (basketball)|Felipe Lopez]], and [[Francisco García (basketball)|Francisco Garcia]] are among the Dominican-born players currently or formerly in the [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA).

Olympic gold medalist and world champion hurdler [[Félix Sánchez (hurdler)|Félix Sánchez]] hails from the Dominican Republic, as do former [[National Football League|NFL]] [[defensive end]] [[Luis Castillo (American football)|Luis Castillo]] and 2020 World and European Cyclo-cross champion [[Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Shanahan |first=Tom |title=San Diego Hall of Champions&nbsp;– Sports at Lunch, Luis Castillo and Felix Sanchez |publisher=San Diego Hall of Champions |date=March 24, 2007 |url=http://www.sdhoc.com/main/articles/sportsatlunch/Sportsatlunch2007/Sanchezcastillo |access-date=May 29, 2007|url-status=usurped | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070505132520/http://www.sdhoc.com/main/articles/sportsatlunch/Sportsatlunch2007/Sanchezcastillo| archive-date = May 5, 2007}}</ref>

Other important sports are [[volleyball]], introduced in 1916 by U.S. Marines and controlled by the [[Dominican Volleyball Federation]], [[taekwondo]], in which [[Gabriel Mercedes]] won an Olympic silver medal in 2008, and [[judo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fedojudo.org/fedojudo/index.cfm|title=Fedujudo comparte con dirigentes provinciales|publisher=fedojudo.org|language=es|access-date=September 15, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206101315/http://www.fedojudo.org/fedojudo/index.cfm|archive-date=December 6, 2010}}</ref>