Pedro Jaime Martínez

Born October 25, 1971 in Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic is an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2004 World Series champion. At the time of his 200th win in April 2006, Martínez had the highest winning percentage of any 200-game winner in modern baseball history he eventually slipped .003 behind Whitey Ford. His ERA+ is the highest of any starting pitcher in MLB history.

Officially listed at 5 ft 11 in and 195 pounds, Martínez was unusually small for a modern-day power pitcher, and he is believed to be somewhat smaller than his officially listed height and weight. Martínez's pitching style was atypical as he commanded an arsenal of "out" pitches. His fastball, cutter, curveball and circle changeup were all well above average; combined with his historically excellent control, they proved to be an overpowering package. Martínez threw from a low three-quarter position that hid the ball very well from batters, who have remarked on the difficulty of picking up Martínez's delivery.

Early in his career, Martínez's fastball was consistently clocked in the 95–97 mph range. Using it in combination with his devastating changeup and occasionally mixing in his curveball, he was as dominant a pitcher as the game has ever seen. As injuries and the aging process took their toll, Martínez made the adjustment to rely more on finesse than power. His fastball settled into the 85–88 mph range, although he was able to occasionally reach 90-91 mph when the need arose. Martínez continued to use a curveball, a circle changeup, and an occasional slider. With his command of the strike zone, he remained an effective strikeout pitcher despite the drop in velocity.

Approaching free agency, Martínez was traded to the Boston Red Sox in November 1997, and was soon signed to a six-year, $75,000,000 contract with an option for a seventh at $17 million by Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette, at the time the largest ever awarded to a pitcher. Martínez paid immediate dividends in 1998, with a 19–7 record, and finishing second in the American League in ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, and the Cy Young voting. In 1999, Martínez delivered one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time, finishing 23–4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts earning the pitching Triple Crown, unanimously winning his second Cy Young Award this time in the American League, and coming in second in the Most Valuable Player ballot. Between August 1999 and April 2000, Martínez had ten consecutive starts with 10 or more strikeouts. Only three pitchers have had as many as seven such starts in a row, and one of those was Martínez himself, in April–May 1999. He averaged more than 15 strikeouts per nine innings during his record 10-game streak. During the 1999 season, he set the record for most consecutive innings pitched with a strikeout, with 40. For his career, Martínez has compiled 15 or more strikeouts in a game ten times, which is tied with Roger Clemens for the third-most 15-K games in history. Martínez punctuated his dominance in the 1999 All-Star Game start at Fenway Park, when he struck out Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell in two electrifying innings. It was the first time any pitcher struck out the side to start an All-Star Game, and the performance earned Martínez the All-Star Game MVP award.

Following up 1999, Martínez had perhaps his best year in 2000. Martínez posted an exceptional 1.74 ERA, the AL's lowest since 1978, while winning his third Cy Young award. His ERA was about a third of the park-adjusted league ERA (4.97). No other single season by a starting pitcher has had such a large differential. Martínez's WHIP in 2000 was 0.74, breaking both the 87-year-old modern Major League record set by Walter Johnson, as well as Guy Hecker's mark of 0.77 in 1882. The American League slugged just .259 against him. Hitters also had a .167 batting average and .213 on base percentage, setting two more modern era records. Martínez became the only starting pitcher in history to have more than twice as many strikeouts in a season (284) as hits allowed (128). This performance represents the peak for any pitcher in baseball history.

Martínez went 16–9 in 2004, despite an uncharacteristic 3.90 ERA, as the Red Sox won the American League wild card berth. He pitched effectively in the playoffs, contributing to the team's first World Series win in 86 years. Martínez again finished second in AL strikeouts, and was fourth in that winter's Cy Young voting.

The seven-year contract he received from the Red Sox had been considered a huge risk in the 1997 offseason, but Martínez had rewarded the team's hopes with two Cy Young Awards, and six Top-4 finishes. Martínez finished his Red Sox career with a 117–37 record, the highest winning percentage any pitcher has had with any team in baseball history. After Boston's World Series triumph in 2004, Martínez became a free agent and signed a 4-year, $53 million contract with the New York Mets.

On September 3, 2007, Martínez returned from the disabled list with his 207th career win, allowing two earned runs in five efficient innings and collecting his 3000th career strikeout, becoming the 15th pitcher to do so. Martínez's comeback was considered a great success, as the right-hander went 3-1 in five starts with a 2.57 ERA. Martínez became just the fourth pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts with fewer than 1,000 walks with 701.

During his four-year Met contract, Martínez was 32–23 in 79 starts, with a 3.88 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. A free agent, Martínez did not sign with a major league team during the winter. In March, he joined the Dominican Republic's squad for the 2009 World Baseball Classic, in an attempt to showcase his arm. Martinez pitched six scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts and no walks, but the team was quickly eliminated from the tournament and no MLB contract was forthcoming. In July 2009, Phillies scouts evaluated Martinez in two simulated games against the Phillies DSL team, leading to a one-year, $1-million contract. In his third as a Phillie and his 100th as a National Leaguer—Martinez became the 10th pitcher in history to win at least 100 games in each league.

Intense media interest preceded Martinez's "return to Yankee Stadium" in Game 2 of the World Series. At the pre-game press conference, he seemed to relish the attention, telling reporters,

"When you have 60,000 people chanting your name, waiting for you to throw the ball, you have to consider yourself someone special, someone that really has a purpose out there."

Martinez pitched effectively in his second-ever World Series start, but left the game in the 7th inning trailing 2-1 and wound up taking the loss. Before his second start of the Series, Martínez called himself and opposing pitcher Andy Pettitte "old goats", and acknowledged that Red Sox fans were rooting for him: "I know that they don’t like the Yankees to win, not even in Nintendo games."^[20] However, Martínez allowed 4 runs in 4 innings, falling to 0-2 as the Phillies lost the sixth game and the 2009 World Series to the New York Yankees.

Martinez's agent announced in July that he would not be pitching at all in 2010, while remaining interested in a 2011 return he went unsighned in 2011, on Dec. 4, 2011, he officially announced his retirement. Sports Illustrated MLB All-Decade Team On February 2011, the Smithsonian's National Art Gallery announced that it had acquired an oil painting of Martinez for its collection.

 

Boston Red Sox Official Site

boston.redsox.mlb.com

Michel Camilo

Born April 4, 1954 is a pianist and composer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work. Camilo lists some of his main influences as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Art Tatum. Camilo was born into a musical family and as a young child showed aptitude for the accordion that his parents gave him. Although he enjoyed the accordion, it was his grandparents' piano that sparked his interest the most, so at aged 9 he asked his parents to buy him one. Their response was to first send him to the Elementary Music School, part of the National Conservatory, and then a year later to grant his wish.

The formal system of the music school taught Camilo to play in the classical style, and by age 16 he was playing with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic. Camilo comments on his first encounter with the sounds of jazz, in an interview with the All About Jazz website:

"The first time I heard jazz was when I was 14 and a half. I heard the great Art Tatum on the radio playing his solo piano rendition of 'Tea for Two.' That immediately caught my ear. I just wanted to soak it in, to learn to play that style. Then I found out it was jazz."

Camilo studied for 13 years at the National Conservatory, and whilst developing his strong classical abilities was also heavily influenced by the bop tradition, and by the contemporary jazz of Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. His influences at this time also included Horace Silver, Errol Garner, and the ragtime music of Scott Joplin.

When the Harvard University Jazz Band visited the Dominican Republic and heard Camilo at a jam session, the bandleader encouraged him, 'You should be in the States', and so the idea was planted. In 1979, Camilo moved to New York to study at Mannes College and at The Juilliard School, and broke onto the international stage in 1983 when Tito Puente's pianist was unable to make a concert at the Montreal Jazz Festival. On a recommendation, without hearing him, Puente asked Camilo to play. Cuban reedman Paquito D'Rivera was in the audience and offered him a place in his band. For four years, Camilo toured internationally with D'Rivera and recorded two albums with him.

Camilo's emergence as a star in his own right began around 1985, the year he debuted with his trio at Carnegie Hall. In that same year he toured Europe with Paquito D’Rivera's quintet, and recorded his first album, Why Not?, for Japan's King label. Suntan / In Trio had a trio with Anthony Jackson on the bass and Dave Weckl on the drums. In 1988, Camilo debuted on a major record label, Sony, with the release of Michel Camilo, which became a bestseller and held the top jazz album spot for ten consecutive weeks. Special guests joined in with Camilo, such as percussionist Sammy Figueroa and tap dancer Raul. Other bestselling albums followed and so did the accolades, including a Grammy and an Emmy. Camilo's collaborative 2000 album with flamenco guitarist Tomatito Spain won Best Latin Jazz Album in the first Latin Grammy Awards.

As well as being an outstanding performer, Camilo is a talented composer and has written scores for several Spanish language films including Los Peores Años de Nuestra Vida and the award-winning Amo Tu Cama Rica.

Camilo tours extensively, and lectures in Europe, the US, and in the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. He holds several honorary degrees, a Visiting Professorship and a Doctorate at Berklee College of Music, and has been honored in his home country by being named a Knight of the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus, and being awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Duarte, Sanchez & Mella.

Michel Camilo Official Site

http://www.michelcamilo.com/

 

Oscar De La Renta

Born July 22, 1932 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is one of the world's leading fashion designers. Trained by Balenciaga, he became internationally known in the 1960s as one of the couturiers to dress Jacqueline Kennedy. An award-winning designer, he worked for Lanvin and Balmain; his eponymous fashion house continues to dress leading figures, from film stars to royalty, into the 2010s. De La Renta is particularly known for his red carpet gowns and evening wear.

At the age of 18 he left the Dominican Republic to study in Spain, where he studied painting at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He quickly became interested in the world of fashion design and began sketching for leading Spanish fashion houses, which soon led to an apprenticeship with Spain's most renowned couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga. Later, de la Renta left Spain to join Antonio Castillo as a couture assistant at Lanvin in Paris.

In 1963, torn between designing custom clothing for Elizabeth Arden as well as designing shoes and accessories, and designing ready-to-wear for Christian Dior-New York, de la Renta turned for advice to Diana Vreeland, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, saying that what he really wanted was to "get into ready to wear, because that's where the money is". Vreeland replied, "Then go to Arden because you will make your reputation faster. She is not a designer, so she will promote you. At the other place, you will always be eclipsed by the name of Dior." De la Renta proceeded to work for Arden for two years before he in 1965 went to work for Jane Derby and launched his own label. When Derby died in August 1965 Oscar de la Renta took over the label.

He was one of the three major protégés of Baron de Gunzburg; the others were Bill Blass and Calvin Klein. From 1993 to 2002, Oscar de la Renta designed the haute couture collection for the house of Balmain (fashion house), becoming the first Dominican to design for a French couture house. His clothes have been worn by many celebrities, including Gloria Guinness, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush, Jenna Bush, Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Tina Fey, Anne Hathaway and Megan Fox.

In 1967 and 1968, de la Renta won the Coty award (the US fashion industry 'Oscars') and in 1973 was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame. From 1973 to 1976, and from 1986 to 1988, he served as President of the CFDA. He is also a two-time winner of the American Fashion Critic's Award and was inducted into the Fame in 1973. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1968 he got the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award. De la Renta's talents receive continual international recognition. Among them, he received the Council of Fashion Designers Designer of the Year Award in 2000 and in 2007 (tied with Proenza Schouler). In February 1990, he was honored with the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Oscar De La Renta Fasion House Official Site
http://www.oscardelarenta.com

Juan Bosch

Juan E. Bosch born 30 June 1909, La Vega – deceased 1 November 2001, Santo Domingo  was a politician, historian, short story writer, essayist, educator, and the first cleanly elected president of the Dominican Republic for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael Trujillo for over 25 years. To this day he is remembered as an honest politician and regarded as one of the most prominent writers in Dominican literature. He is the founder of both the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) in 1939 and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 1973.

By 1939 Bosch had gone to Cuba, where he directed an edition of the completed works of Eugenio María de Hostos, something that defined his patriotic and humanist ideals. In July, with other Dominican expatriates, he founded the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), which stood out as the most active front against Trujillo outside the Dominican Republic.

Bosch heavily sympathised with leftist ideas, but he always denied any communist affiliation. He collaborated with the Cuban Revolutionary Party and had an important role in the making of the Constitution that was promulgated in 1940.

At the same time, his literary career was ascending, gaining important acknowledgments like the Hernandez Catá Prize in Havana for short stories written by a Latin American author. His works had a deep social content, among them "La Noche Buena de Encarnación Mendoza", "Luis Pié", "The Masters" and "The Indian Manuel Sicuri", all of them described by critics as masterpieces of the sort.

After 23 years in exile, Juan Bosch returned to his homeland when Trujillo was assassinated on May 30, 1961. His presence in the national political life, as the Dominican Revolutionary Party presidential candidate, was a fresh change for the Dominicans. His manner of speaking, direct and simple, especially when addressing the lowest classes, appealed the farmers as much as the people from the cities.

On February 27, 1963, was elected President of the Dominican Republic Bosch immediately launched a deep restructuring of the country. On April 29, he promulgated a new liberal constitution. The new document granted the people freedoms they had never known. Among other things, it declared specific labor rights, and mentioned unions, pregnant women, homeless people, the family, rights for the child and the young, for the farmers, and for illegitimate children.

However, Bosch faced powerful enemies. He moved to break up latifundia, drawing the ire of landowners. The Roman Catholic Church thought Bosch was trying to over secularize the country. Industrialists did not like the new Constitution's guarantees for the working class. The military, who previously enjoyed free rein, felt Bosch put them on too short a leash. In addition, the United States was skeptical of even a hint of left-leaning politics in the Caribbean after Fidel Castro openly declared himself a Communist.

On September 25, 1963, after only seven months in office, Bosch was overthrown in a coup led by Colonel Elías Wessin and replaced by a three-man military junta. Bosch went back to exile in Puerto Rico.

Less than two years later, growing dissatisfaction generated another military rebellion on April 24, 1965, that demanded Bosch's restoration. The insurgents, commanded by Colonel Francisco Caamaño, removed the junta from power but on April 28, with United States assistance in the civil war dispatching 42,000 troops to the island An interim government was formed, and elections were fixed for July 1, 1966. Bosch returned to the country and ran as his party's presidential candidate. However, he ran a somewhat muted campaign, fearing for his safety and believing he'd be thrown out of office by the military again if he won. He was soundly defeated by Joaquín Balaguer, who garnered 57% of the vote.

During the last half of the 1960s, Bosch remained a very prolific writer of essays, both political and historical. He published some of his most important works during this time: "Dominican Social Composition", "Brief History of the Oligarchy in Santo Domingo", "From Christopher Columbus to Fidel Castro", and numerous articles of different sorts.

The differences and contradictions between Bosch and an important sector of the PRD, as well as the corruption that had started to grow within the party, made him leave the organization in 1973, and thus he founded the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) on December 15 of that same year.

After placing third in the 1994 election, Bosch retired from politics. He was already 83 years old and presumably suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Juan Bosch died on November 1, 2001, in Santo Domingo. As a former President, he received the corresponding honors at the National Palace, and was buried in his hometown of La Vega.

To this day, he is remembered as a man of principles. Over the years, as his luck rose and fell, his political direction oscillated wildly. He described himself as a "non-Communist" and a friend of Fidel Castro, and he told an interviewer in 1988 that he had never been Marxist.

Partido De La Liberacion Dominicana Official Site

“Servir al Partido para Servir al Pueblo”

http://www.pld.org.do