to keep up morale. Much of the labor force of the sugar industry was made up of migrants from the British West Indies, and were familiar with cricket. Several semi-professional baseball clubs were founded in the early 20th century, most notably Santo Domingo's storied Tigres del Licey. The U.S. occupation from 1916 to 1924 resulted in further inroads, as military administrators provided money to form and purchase equipment for amateur clubs, while organizing games between Dominican clubs and U.S. Marines. Towards the end of the occupation, professional baseball took on the shape and structure it retains today, with two teams in Santo Domingo—Tigres del Licey and Leones del Escogido—and one each in San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana and Santiago. Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo came to power in 1930 and quickly sought to consolidate control over the national economy. While not a baseball fan himself, his family were avid baseball fans, and, seeking to bolster his regime, he acquired Licey. In 1936, the Estrellas Orientales of San Pedro de Macorís defeated Licey in the national championship. Afterwards, Trujillo merged Licey and Escogido into one team, the Ciudad Trujillo Dragones. To counter this, San Pedro signed the three top players from the Negro league powerhouse Pittsburgh Crawfords-pitcher Satchel Paige, catcher Josh Gibson and centre fielder Cool Papa Bell—but, upon arriving in the country, they were detained by Trujillo and forced to suit up for the Dragones. Santiago's Águilas Cibaeñas later signed several Cuban Negro league players, including pitcher Luis Tiant, Sr. (father of the Red Sox pitcher of the same name) and pitcher/outfielder Martín Dihigo. The Dragones defeated Santiago and San Pedro to win the 1937 championship, but the vast amounts of money used to finance the season bankrupted the other owners, and ended professional baseball in the Dominican Republic for ten years. Attention shifted to the amateur national teams the country assembled, using a unit of the Dominican army as Trujillo's personal farm club. The first wave of Dominican ballplayers to play professionally in the Major Leagues, including Ozzie Virgil, Sr., the Alou brothers—Felipe, Matty and Jesus—and Hall-of-Fame pitcher Juan Marichal emerged from Trujillo's amateur teams. Professional baseball resumed in 1951 as a winter league of the U.S. Major Leagues, with the old alignment still in place. In 1955, construction was completed on Santo Domingo's Estadio Quisqueya, shared home to rivals Tigres del Licey and Leones del Escogido. This alignment has