Dominican Baseball: New Pride, Old Prejudice

by Alan Klein

Overview

Pedro Martínez. Sammy Sosa. Manny Ramírez.  By 2000, Dominican baseball players were in every Major League clubhouse, and regularly winning every baseball award. In 2002, Omar Minaya became the first Dominican general manager of a Major League team. But how did this codependent relationship between MLB and Dominican talent arise and thrive? 

 

In his incisive and engaging book, Dominican Baseball, Alan Klein examines the history of MLB's presence and influence in the Dominican Republic, the development of the booming industry and academies, and the dependence on Dominican player developers, known as buscones. He also addresses issues of identity fraud and the use of performance-enhancing drugs as hopefuls seek to play professionally.

 

Dominican Baseball charts the trajectory of the economic flows of this transnational exchange, and the pride Dominicans feel in their growing influence in the sport. Klein also uncovers the prejudice that prompts MLB to diminish Dominican claims on legitimacy. This sharp, smartly argued book deftly chronicles the uneasy and often contested relations of the contemporary Dominican game and industry. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439910870
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	04/14/2014
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Alan Klein is a Professor of Sociology-Anthropology at Northeastern University. He is the author of Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream; Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball; and Baseball on the Border: A Tale of Two Laredos.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
 
Introduction
1 Thinking about the Global Commodity Chain
2 The Rise of the Academy System
3 A Nation of Buscones
4 Astín Jacobo and the “New Dominicans”
5 Demonizing Dominicans
6 “It Felt like the Marines All Over Again”: The Battle for Dominican Baseball
Conclusion
 
Notes
Index