If you are a Dominican-born baseball player in the Major Leagues, you have overcome insurmountable odds to get there. The drive to take your family out of poverty has to exceed any pitfall you may encounter. For Jose Bautista, he had a much tougher obstacle than convincing scouts that his ability was worthy of a team’s precious draft pick. He had to first convince his mother.
“My mother always wanted me to finish school,” Bautista says. “She wasn’t excited about me playing baseball. She didn’t feel that’s what she wanted for me, but she understood how much I wanted to play. After I signed a pro contract, I promised her that I was going to finish and get my degree."
This past offseason, Bautista showed the same drive that has made him into a five-time American League All-Star. And though his Major League contracts have provided him with a lifetime of financial security, Bautista completed all of the necessary coursework to receive his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of South Florida.
For many athletes in the Dominican Republic, college never enters the success equation. Baseball is the only way to a better life. It’s something that Bautista is trying to help change. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of incentives for Latin American ballplayers to drop out of school and focus on baseball,” he says. “And it’s not Major League Baseball’s fault. The school systems in many of these countries are extremely deficient. I was fortunate. I came from a middle-class family in the Dominican Republic and I had options. Many of the athletes come from lower economic levels, which is why the temptation is so strong to focus on baseball. It’s the only way they know to pull their family out of poverty.”
For Bautista, the road to pro baseball wasn’t the stereotypical route that most Dominican players take. After completing high school in Santo Domingo, Bautista moved to the US to attend a junior college in Florida. It was there that he had to adjust to living in a new country, studying at a higher level, all while performing on the field. That college level exposure brought him to the attention of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who chose Bautista with their 20th round selection in the 2000 MLB Draft. Realizing the importance education played in his development as a player and person, Bautista wanted to find a way to help young athletes to follow him on the road to college. That’s why he founded the Bautista Family Education Fund. The organization provides financial and mentoring assistance to help amateur athletes make the transition to collegiate life while they pursue their professional athlete aspirations. “We wanted to help kids get on the right path to be a student-athlete,” Bautista says. “We become a liaison between the athlete, the school and the coach, and when necessary, provide them with the financial help they need to set them up for success.”
Bautista understands how elusive success can be. Before he was a perennial All-Star for the Blue Jays, he was trying to make the transition to living in the United States and being a professional player. He was a member of five different Major League organizations in five years. On his second tour of duty in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, the team gave him a chance to play regularly. At the 2008 trading deadline, the Pirates bet on another player to hold down third base and moved Bautista to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later. At that point, lesser players may have given up on the dream. “There were times like anyone else when I got down on myself,” he says, “but I always felt like I belonged and that I was good enough. I believed in my ability as an athlete and never gave in to those thoughts. As players, we’re all used to dealing with adversity of some kind. But I wouldn’t change anything. Major League players are made from perseverance. We fail so much, unlike any other sport. If we fail seven out of 10 times at bat, we’re considered successful. In other sports, they need to succeed seven out of 10 times to keep playing."
The Blue Jays faith in Bautista has paid huge dividends. As the team’s leader, Bautista has played through injuries and has played wherever his team has needed him—first base, third base, centerfield, right field and designated hitter. Not since Pete Rose, has a player of Bautista’s All-Star caliber willingly sacrificed to played so many different positions for his team.
That selflessness is one of many reasons that Bautista has evolved into one of baseball’s fan favorites. This season, he was the leading vote recipient in all of Major League Baseball for the All-Star Game (surpassing even Derek Jeter in his final season), making him the American League captain. At age 33, Bautista now finds himself as one of the sport’s best and most reliable ambassadors. “I feel fortunate to be in that position,” he says. “I love trying to live by example, to be a leader and a role model.”
Bautista remains a role model not only to kids, but to other players as well. He has begun expanding his business interests, using his platform to create a better life for himself outside the game. He has recently become a board member of Marucci Sports, a baseball equipment company that started by producing wooden bats, but has expanded its product lines to include aluminum bats, gloves, equipment bags and apparel. “We’re the only sports equipment company that is majority-owned by current and former players,” Bautista says proudly.
In the offseason, Bautista will continue to expand his business interests. “It doesn’t have to be a start up,” he says of the companies he will evaluate. “If its something that is a good idea, and I can understand the concepts behind it and try to improve them to create something that gives back to the community, it’s something at which I will take a closer look.”
But for now, his business his baseball. With the interview over, it’s time for Bautista to head to the ballpark. Today, his team squares off against the Yankees in a heated battle for the wild card. “Injuries have been tough on us this year,” he says. “We’ve lost so many guys to injuries. But once we have everyone back in the lineup, we will be unstoppable.” Spoken with the confidence of a leader.
