Vitilla

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Curated by Larry McCray and Jeffrey Kittel
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Game	Vitilla
Game Family	Baseball Baseball
Location	Dominican Republic
Regions	Rest of World
Eras	Derivative, Contemporary
Invented	No
Tags
Description	The game of vitilla ("vee-TEE-ya') is reportedly played widely in the Dominican Republic.  "What Dominican doesn't play vitilla?," asked Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez.  Several other Major Leagues attribute some of their skills to the game. ". . . the concept is the same [as baseball] -- to hit a moving object with a stick.  But because the vitilla is smaller than a baseball and moves unpredictable when thrown, and because the bat is thinner, some . . . believe playing it so regularly helped their hand-eye coordination." A Times article does not detail the game's rules, and it is not yet clear to Protoball whether batters actually run bases.  A photograph suggests that balls and strikes are determined by whether a pitched cap hits a small (12 inch?) target set up behind the batter.  The article refers to a similar game, called chapita, played in Venezuela.
Sources	James Wagner, "Dominican Players Sharpen Their Skills With a Broomstick and Bottle Cap," New York Times (Sports Sunday section), October 6, 2017. Accessed 10/9/2017 via search for <nyt broomstick bottle cap> May be at https://nyti.ms/2yNiVE4 A  version with baserunning is shown at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8Aw2cBer84.  This clip evidently shows New York area play. A six-minute intro to the game on MLB Tonight with Pedro Martinez and others is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzDbWAH4gL0
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Comment	Protoball welcomes additional details on the games rules, history, and spread. This item was spotted by Alexa T. McCray.   Edit with form to add a comment
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