Watching a Major League Baseball game, it is not hard

to notice the major impact Latin Americans have had on the

sport. There skills and personalities are contagious, you

can’t help but love the way Latin players play the game.

The 2013 World Baseball Classic was proof that baseball

has become a global sport with the Dominican Republic

defeating Puerto Rico in the gold medal, and Japan

defeating the Netherlands in the bronze, and it should be

noted that the Netherlands team consists mostly of Latin

American players from the Netherland Antilles. It was a

major event seeing the American’s fail at “America’s game”

on a global stage. It also shows how important Latin

America is to the game professionally, specifically the

Dominican Republic, and the lack of professional Cuban

players despite the immense amount of talent they have.

Baseball was introduced to the islands of Cuba and

Dominican Republic in the late 19th century. College kids

coming home from American schools, and American sailors

visiting the island introduced the game to the locals, at

which they quickly fell in love with the beauty of

1

baseball. Latin American players quickly excelled at the

game, playing with such love and passion that had not been

seen in American baseball. Very soon after professional

leagues started to come to prominence in Cuba and the

Dominican Republic, and their style of play and impressive

skills began to take the notice of Major League Baseball

(MLB) scouts. As shown throughout history the United

States has had no problem exploiting other countries for

political and economic gains, and baseball is no

different. The impact of American baseball on the

Dominican and Cuba are extremely different, but despite

their differences colonization is evident in both

countries. Although Major League Baseball has controlled

the sport in both the Dominican Republic and Cuba since it

was first played professionally on the islands in the

1930s, the relationship between each country’s baseball

program and the United States is very different, with

Cuba’s Cold War history making it nearly impossible for

Cuban baseball players to play MLB while conversely young

Dominican players are under complete control of MLB

2

beginning at age 16; these relationships, and the amount

of money MLB makes directly from these Latin American

players has had a colonizing effect on these countries.

In Cuba, American soldiers introduced baseball during

the time of U.S. occupation in Cuba. Author Roberto

Gonzalez Echevarria states that “during the years of U.S.

military rule following the Spanish-American War (1898-

1902), and other occupations of the island until the

thirties, particularly the one between 1906 and 1909, when

Cuba was again under U.S. control”1 was when baseball was

introduced and began to become popular in Cuba. In

Echevarria’s book he writes about Cuban and U.S. political

relations and says “baseball perhaps as good an index as

any of the complicated relationship between Cuba and its

mighty neighbor to the North”.2 From U.S. occupation of

Cuba in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to the Cold

War, and rise of Fidel Castro and his openness to embrace

Leninism, which lead to support from the Soviet Union; all1 Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball, (New York, Oxford University Press, 1999), 112.2 Echevarria, 113.

3

of this had major implications for the relationship

between the U.S. and Cuba, and all of these implications

have been seen in the sport of baseball.3

During U.S. occupation of Cuba, the impact on

baseball by the U.S. was very strong. Every league was

effected in different ways due to the then close

relationship between the United States and Cuba. Cuba was

a Spanish colony at this time, and Cubans were determined

to become independent, and “in Cuba baseball gave a form

of opposition to Spanish Colonialism”.4 Baseball came to

Cuba at a time where it was critical to finding a national

identity. With Spanish colonial powers overstaying their

welcome, Cuba was prepared to become independent, and

luckily for the United States they used baseball as a tool

of their independence. It was no secret that the

relationship between the U.S. and Cuba had grown strong

through the 19th century going into the 20th century. Cuban

foreign trade had been expanding throughout the 19th 3 Echevarria, 114-121.4 Louis A. Perez Jr., Between Baseball and Bullfighting: The Quest for Nationality in Cuba, 1868-1898, Journal of American History, (Sept. 1994), Vol.81, Issue 2, 494.

4

century from “$18 million in 1792…. To $92 million in

1862”5, though trade contracts were made with Britain and

Spain, a majority was made with the United States. “By the

early 1880’s, Cuba had passed almost entirely into the

North American economic orbit. Nearly 94% of Cuba’s sugar

production was exported to the United States”.6 These

economic relations had been established years before the

Spanish-American War in 1898, which is precisely why

America felt the need to step in and defend Cuba.

American intervention was also a spread of the Monroe

Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine in 1823 was a foreign policy

to ensure the American continent should not be subject to

colonization from any European country, and any attempt at

colonization would be a direct threat to the United

States.7 American hegemony justified its colonial

interests in Cuba because Cuban’s were seen at this time

as backwards and in need of civilizing. Baseball was seen

as a way of spreading American exceptionalism to not only 5 Perez Jr., 496.6 Perez Jr., 496.7 Kelly Anne Butler, The Monroe Doctrine and U.S. Hegemony: Hemispheric Hegemony, Lecture given on January 30, 2014.

5

Cuba, but also all Latin American countries.

Exceptionalism is the thought that the U.S. is “totally

unique” and they are “taming, transforming, and

civilizing”8 their neighbors to the south. In Louis Perez

Jr. article, he posts pieces of articles in baseball

magazines that had been widespread throughout Cuba in the

early 20th century and some of the things that were said

have very clear colonial terms used.

It is certain that the game does not belong to us. It has come to usfrom the North: more than sufficient guarantee that baseball will find a secureplace among us, for we recognize that from the North American people therecan come nothing that does not teach, that does not moralize, that does not

fortify- in a word, that does not serve to fulfill some of the initiatives of the greatlaw of progress that our neighbors have adopted. The American sport does notattract a multitude desirous of seeing blood; it attracts a public wishing to pay

homage to reason and justice, which serves to teach and moralize.9

This specific post is an attack against the Spanish sport

of bullfighting, which was the was the popular sport in

Cuba while it was under control of Spain. America had

convinced Cubans or perhaps convinced themselves that

baseball was a sport of democracy, and civilization and in

fact would be the sport to help unite Cuba. It is easy to

see why baseball was able to become such a popular sport 8 Butler, The Monroe Doctrine. 9 Perez Jr., 493.

6

in Cuba; it was a sport that could be played by all

classes and races of people. It was a sport of equality in

some sense.

“The first thirty years of the twentieth were the

Golden Age of the sport in Cuba, an era when Cuban

baseball evolved in ways that would influence its history

to the present.”10 It was referred to the Golden Age

because of the Cuban baseball heroes that came from this

era such as Jose de la Caridad Mendez, and Adolfo Luque.11

During this time period Cuban baseball excelled both at

home and in the United States. Professional, semi-

professional, amateur and sugar mill leagues sprouted

throughout every province and city of Cuba. “This was an

era when Cuban baseball players competed regularly with

and against the best in the world, be they major leaguers

or stars from the Negro Leagues”.12 A benefit to American

hegemony was the availability for Cuban baseball teams to

compete against professional teams from the United States.

10 Echevarria, 113. 11 Echevarria, 114.12 Echevarria, 114.

7

It helped professional Cuban players gain recognition

among professional American players and coaches, which led

to Cuban players leaving Cuba to play professional

baseball in America.13 It also led to Major League teams

touring Cuba to play against their professional

teams14witch gave Cuban people who resented America’s

control of the island an opportunity to watch Cubans beat

Americans at their own game. African American baseball

players also began to flow to Cuba to play baseball

professionally. “The island had become a neutral zone

dominated by pleasurable activities where prejudices could

be suspended”.15The acceptance of black Americans in the

Cuban league became very important for the development of

Cuban baseball to North America. Bringing in American

teams, and black American players was a way for America to

spread its influence to Cuba, to show how the game is

supposed to be played the “American Way”. Unfortunately

for America, Cuba was better at baseball and dominated

13 Echevarria, 114-11714 Echevarria, 127.15 Echevarria, 139.

8

American teams that came to play. It was “crucial in the

incorporation of baseball as a national game in Cuba.”16

These games showed that baseball was as much Cuba’s game

as it was Americas. The acceptance of African American

baseball players in Cuba, and the timing of the season

were ideal for black ball players looking to make more

money. It gave African Americans the opportunity for

winter employment, and to help develop their baseball

skills against legitimate competition.17 These African

American players coming to Cuba also offered an

opportunity for Cuban baseball to expand to the Negro

Leagues. Players were able to come and play professionally

in the Negro Leagues, but it was the idea of Cuban

Baseball that was sold to American audiences.18Teams such

as the Cuban Giants, and Cuban stars were created and

would travel around the United States to play professional

teams. The only thing about these teams was that they were

for the most part not Cuban, they consisted of African

16 Echevarria, 129.17 Echevarria, 139-141.18 Echevarria, 140-141.

9

players who would go to Cuba to play winter ball and would

be put on these teams and be sold as Cuban to American

baseball audiences.19 In Echevarria’s book he says that

players even “jived in gibberish among themselves while on

the field to make people believe they were speaking

Spanish.”20 It is difficult to believe that American people

would be ignorant enough to believe these African players

were actually Cuban, and that the gibberish they spoke on

the field could be believed as Spanish. The African

American players were also using the Cuban name because of

the hatred towards blacks in America at this time. This

example shows the exploitation by American baseball of

Cuba. They were using the “myth” of Cuban baseball as a

way to gain revenue, and also as an example of America

globalizing the game of baseball. In the “Golden Age” of

Cuban baseball it is important to look at the use of

baseball to develop Cuban nationalism. It can be looked at

in the same way as mentioned before that baseball was used

to defy Spanish Imperialism, but now baseball was used in 19 Echevarria, 135-142.20 Echevarria, 120.

10

Cuba to defy American occupation. It is ironic in the

sense that baseball was brought to Cuba through American

occupation, and now not only has Cuba developed better

baseball teams, it became a major factor leading up to

Cuban independence.

Following the “Golden Age” there was a period of

relative stability in the Cuban League from the 1930s to

1950s. Though organized baseball put new rules in place

which made it more difficult for Cuban players to go back

and play in Cuba following their seasons in the United

States, following the topic of my research paper it is

more important to look at the years from 1950 leading up

to the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the years following

the take over of Fidel Castro. “The 1949-50 season marked

the beginning of a decade of stability in the Cuban League

that was like no other before in its long history but that

led, ironically, to its demise with the advent of the

revolution”.21 ”Americanization was the general trend in

popular culture…”22and it was especially seen throughout 21 Echevarria, 298.22 Echevarria, 299.

11

Cuba’s capital city of Havana. “The building of lavish

nightclubs such as Tropicana, Montmartre, and Sans Souci,

which, along with new hotels such as the Riviera, the

Capri, and the Hilton, were also gambling casinos,”23

Havana became a hotspot for middle class American

tourists. It was considered “the Las Vegas of the

Caribbean,”24and with that title came the same problems as

the Nevada city, “with gambling came organized crime and

an increase of government corruption”.25The streets of

Havana was not the only thing becoming Americanized in

Cuba, the Cuban League also at this time went through a

major process of Americanization, especially in respects

to media.

The modern programs of the Cuban League- flimsy pamphlets crudely printedon coarse paper during the years of La Tropical- now became glitzy

magazines, with pictures of each player, statistical information, and plenty ofadvertising. Albums for baseball stickers, such as the one put out for the 1945-46 season at La Tropical, were replaced with much more expensively produced,

glossier books. American baseball cards appeared in the stores, along withAmerican baseball magazines including the yearbooks of major-league

teams.26

23 Echevarria, 299.24 Echevarria, 299.25 Echevarria, 299.26 Echevarria, 299.

12

Baseball became something of a spectacle in Cuba at this

time, whether it Cuba’s League, or Major League Baseball

in the United States. With the emergence of baseball in

popular culture it made it much easier for all citizens of

Cuba to follow their favorite baseball players, whether

they play for a Cuban team or American team. Baseball

became even more Americanized with the emergence of

television in Cuba, where games started being aired “with

moving pictures during the 1949-50 season”.27Soon after

this there were two channels in Cuba that would show

baseball games, and of course radio broadcast was still

available. “World Series games were beamed to Cuba at

first by having a plane, serving as a relay antenna,

circle over the Florida Straits”28, and recently after were

beamed directly. With the availability of American

baseball in Cuban homes the spectacle that was baseball in

America was on full display, and the Cuban League quickly

followed suit when it came to the promotion of baseball.

“The Cuban League became a part of Havana showbiz, with TV27 Echevarria, 300.28 Echevarria, 300.

13

stars frequenting the Gran Stadium as much to be seen as

to watch the games”.29Players were also seen frequently on

television doing interviews. The commercial activity of

baseball increased in Cuba at this time also, with

eateries and shops starting to open at Gran Stadium.30

People became more excited about attending baseball games

where beer and cigars were readily available for purchase.

It also added extra excitement for attending these games

“by the presence of celebrities, including the ballplayers

and sometimes the boxers.”31The same things that attracted

Americans to the game of baseball are what developed the

Cuban League into a spectacle. It is tough to believe that

at the rise of the Cuban League to almost equal status to

American baseball, the end of this era would quickly mark

the demise of the Cuban League and U.S. and Cuba relations

all together.

The Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the rise of Fidel

Castro to power in Cuba is the single most important event

29 Echevarria, 300.30 Echevarria, 300.31 Echevarria, 300.

14

when looking at the U.S. and Cuban relations in regards to

baseball. “There has never been a case in which a head of

state has been involved so prominently and for such a long

period of time in a nation’s favored sport as Fidel Castro

has been with baseball in Cuba”.32No one would have been

able to predict that after the 1960-61 seasons,

professional baseball would be over in Cuba.33 “Changes

seemed to be provisional, soon to be reversed when the new

regime collapsed or was forced to change its policies

drastically.”34Revolutionary leaders though had other

plans, “and in February 1961 the INDER (Instituo Nacional

de Deportes Educacion Fisica y Recreacion) was created. In

March it decreed the abolition of professional baseball,

and plans to hold a national amateur championship were

laid out”.35 “By pure chance, an Amateur World Series was

slated for Costa Rica in April 1961”.36The Olympic

committee in Cuba began to prepare hastily for the event

32 Echevarria, 352.33 Echevarria, 355.34 Echevarria, 355.35 Echevarria, 355.36 Echevarria, 355.

15

to field the best amateur Cuban team possible. Cuba was

able to assemble a team that overpowered the competition

at the Amateur World Series, and at the same time “the

revolutionary forces were repulsing the Bay of Pigs

invasion back home”.37These events happening simultaneously

strengthened the bond between baseball and the defense of

Cuba.

It seems that for Cuba particularly the abolition of

the professional Cuba League was a way of completely

breaking ties with the United States, and one can respect

Fidel Castro’s decision to do so. On the other hand, doing

this eliminated the opportunity for professional teams in

Cuba to compete against professional teams from the United

States. “At the same time, however, by abolishing the

Cuban League and making it treasonous to leave the island

to play elsewhere, many likely Cuban stars have been

prevented from competing against the best in the world and

realizing their earning potential”.38 Cuban players were

also denied the opportunity of becoming baseball heroes in37 Echevarria, 356. 38 Echevarria, 363.

16

Cuba, because they did not get to play professionally. It

also denied the Cuban baseball fans the opportunity of

seeing their Cuban teams compete against America’s best,

which was a source of nationalism for the Cuban people to

see their teams defeat the American ones. This is not to

say that no Cubans were able to defect to play American

baseball but “for every defector there might be ten other

players who have yearned to leave but have not done so

because of the stigma attached to it, and because to do so

would mean to abandon their country forever, not to

mention their families, from whom they would be separated,

probably for good”.39 This shows the resentment still felt

towards America by Cuban baseball players. They have a

strong desire to become professional players in the

American leagues, and to chase after a lucrative contract,

but going to a place that corrupted Cuba for so long was

not worth leaving a country they loved and their family

behind.

39 Echevarria, 363.

17

In the post-revolution era of baseball in Cuba we see

the development of baseball academies. This gave the Cuban

government complete control over the game, and the young

kids in the country. “This turns the game into a

profession at an early age”40, which is strange since the

Revolutionary government abolished the professional game

in 1961. The main purpose of the baseball academy is to

develop young talent to put together the best amateur team

possible to compete in events such as the Olympics.

“Within that structure, the practice of sports in which

international play could become an arena for ideological

confrontation with capitalist powers was arranged as a

funnel of achievement”.41 Unfortunately for Cuba, no other

countries followed baseball at the amateur levels, and the

best players from around the world did not attend these

tournaments because they were playing in the minor or

major leagues. There is no fame at the amateur level

whether it be in Cuba or the United States, which took

away some of the lore that Cuban baseball had held for 40 Echevarria, 364.41 Echevarria, 365.

18

centuries.42This is the state we see baseball in Cuba

today. Cubans still have a great love and passion for the

game, but with ties in America now ceasing to exist Cuban

baseball has become a shadow of itself. It would be easy

to blame Fidel Castro, and call him a tyrant, and some

blame surely needs to be put on him and his revolutionary

government. Fidel did however accomplish what a majority

of Cubans had wanted for years and that was a split from

the United States. With Major League Baseball having a

complete stronghold on the sport and the economy world

wide, Cuban baseball never stood a chance of maintaining

its significance when Cuba was put under an embargo by the

United States.

The History of Baseball in the Dominican Republic

was much like Cuba. Americans, and also Cubans that left

to the Dominican during the Spanish-American War brought

it to the island.43 The Dominican Republic and the U.S.

42 Echevarria, 367.43 Alan, M. Klein, Culture, Politics, and Baseball in the Dominican Republic, Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 22, No. 3, The Dominican Republic: Social Change and Political Stagnation, (Summer, 2005), pp. 111.

19

were able to keep a good relationship throughout the 20th

century, with the Dominican Republic becoming one of the

original members of the United Nations due to it being an

ally of the American army. Looking at Major League

Baseball as a tool of colonization for the United States,

it is important to look at baseball in the Dominican after

Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba. With the embargo put

in place, and with the assassination of the Dominican

dictator Rafael Trujillo who at the time did not like

sending his best players to play in the MLB, it opened up

the flow of Dominican talent to the Major Leagues.44 The

major attraction of Latin American talent, specifically

the Dominican was that the players came cheap. “A

legitimate college prospect in the United States typically

signs for something in excess of US$150,000, his Dominican

counterpart will sign for approximately US$4,000”.45 This

gave MLB scouts the opportunity to sign multiple players

with equal or better talent in the Dominican at the same

price as one American. Age was also a factor in developing44 Klein, 116.45 Klein, 116.

20

the Dominican into a baseball hub for American teams. “Age

restrictions, too, were loosely obeyed. Anxious to offset

competition, consideration of youth in a period that well

predated ‘rights of child’ mandates was not a factor in

the recruitment process”.46 Quickly every MLB team had

scouts and representatives flock to the Dominican

Republic, to exploit the promise of young, inexpensive

talent. With the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers

opening up the first baseball academies in the late 1970s47

in the Dominican, it would change the face of baseball in

Latin America.

The baseball academy era in the Dominican Republic is

not comparable to the baseball academies set up by Fidel

Castro in Cuba. Castro set up his academies to bolster the

Cuban National baseball teams. Where the Dominican is

different is that the MLB owns their baseball academies

and have complete control of who joins the academy and who46 Samuel O. Regalado, “Latin Players on the Cheap”: Professional Baseball Recruitment in Latin America and the Neocolonialist Tradition, Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1, Symposium: Baseball in the Global Era: Economic, Legal, and Cultural Perspectives, (Fall, 2000), pp. 17. 47 Klein, 119.

21

gets to leave and be a professional baseball player. The

baseball academies of Cuba were the decline of U.S. Cuban

relations in the sport of baseball. Whereas the academies

in the Dominican can be looked at as the moment where MLB

took over complete control of baseball on the island.

Individual teams would open academies in an effort to

refine their young, talented Dominican players.

Anthropologist Andrew Klein said “The development of

academies is very reminiscent of the ways in which nearby

sugar refineries operate in that raw materials are

obtained cheaply, locally refined (at a reduced cost), and

shipped abroad, except in the case of academies it is

young men that are produced rather than sugar cane”.48 It

is difficult to compare the production of sugar and

baseball players, with the production of sugar having such

a dark history, but the comparison that Klein uses is

believable and in many ways true. A main reason for

establishing the academies was for teams to narrow down

the talent they had found in the Dominican. Each MLB team

48 Klein, 119.

22

was only granted 24 work visas49 to import foreign players.

These academies ensured they took the best 24 players in

their academy to the United States, and left out dozens of

other baseball players with hopes they could be in the 24

from the next year. “By law, these young men are supposed

to be at least 17 years of age, but, since birth

certificates are often nonexistent, youngsters can easily

lie about their age or borrow another person’s birth

certificate”.50 This has become a major problem with the

MLB in the Dominican, with many young Dominican kids

trying to get a head start on their baseball careers. It

may seem like an advantage for Dominican kids to have the

opportunity to gain recognition from MLB clubs through

academies, but why are they not treated as equals to

American kids. This aspect of the academy era is prominent

in looking at the MLB as a colonizing business. The

academies became extremely important to MLB teams and

their chase for the World Series. “In 1886, DeVoss argued

that to a large extent, a team’s ability to compete for a 49 Klein, 119.50 Klein, 119.

23

pennant today is determined by its scouting organization

in Latin America”.51 With the importance of Dominican

talent, and the number rising of players coming to the

MLB, “it makes it easier for MLB to sell television

broadcasting rights and licensed merchandise in the native

countries of MLB players”.52 MLB was benefitting from all

aspects of the academy, and could now also be seen as

‘globalizing’ the game, which it is tough to say the MLB

is global when a majority of revenue is going directly to

the United States.

The method of using baseball academies is very

controversial because it is something that would not be

allowed in the United States. The MLB has developed a

system now to exploit the kids of the Dominican Republic.

Many of the kids who go to these academies are very poor,

and have not had the advantage of growing up like many

children in America do, and the MLB takes advantage of

51 Arturo J. Marcano, and David P. Fiddler, The Globalization ofBaseball: Major League Baseball and the Mistreatment of Latin American Baseball Talent, Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2, (Spring, 1999), pp. 519.52 Marcano and Fiddler, 520.

24

this. They offer a way out for Latin American players, and

the opportunity to one-day play professional baseball.

“MLB teams systematically discourage Latino baseball

prospects from retaining agents.”53, this makes it easier

for baseball clubs to exploit these young players, with no

protection from an agent to negotiate with teams Latino

players have no choice but to take what ever is offered to

them, even if it is substantially lower then what American

kids sign for. Marcano and Fiddler give an explanation to

why they think it is so easy for these Dominican kids to

fall into the trap of a baseball academy.

I looked around at the training complex and its two or three flawlesspractice fields, where it seemed not a blade or unruly grass existed. It was thenI really understood. What must a child, raised in squalor and deprivation- wholoves baseball with every ounce of his fiber- feel or think when he sees this for

the first time?... Maybe he loves this game because it represents a joyousescape from the indigent reality of his daily life or maybe because it was a way

out.54

Regalado even goes as far is in his article saying

that “scouts virtually kidnapped players to prevent

interlopers from interfering with their catches”55 and that53 Marcano and Fiddler, 532.54 Marcano and Fiddler, 532.55 Regalado, 18.

25

academies acted as “hideouts because the scouts didn’t

want their kids seen by other scouts. It almost seemed

like they were concentration camps”.56 The academies do

little to prepare Dominican teens for life in America.

With most of these teens growing up in poverty, going to

the United States is a massive culture shock.57This is one

of the main reasons so many Dominican baseball players

never make it past the Minor Leagues, they have not been

prepared for what American baseball and society would

bring them. Scouts and the other people in charge are not

worried about how these teens will fall into American

society, but more so if they turn out to be top tier,

cheap baseball players. The academy has turned into less

of an educational and productive institution to an

American labor camp.

As we now see the American game has had a major

impact on both Cuba and the Dominican Republic, but in

very different ways. Cuba and the U.S. had very strong

56 Regalado, 18.57 Alan M. Klein, Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream, (New Haven, CT, Yale UP, 1991), pp. 73.

26

ties from the start of the 20th century until 1959, and it

could be seen on the baseball field. During this time

period Cuba was the hub of Latin American baseball, and

was side by side with American baseball in terms of

status. The game in Cuba was Americanized, and they fell

into the trend of American media, and advertisement, with

even the Cuban League becoming a very American style of

baseball when it came to the relationship between baseball

and its fans. With the rise of Fidel Castro American

baseball was nothing more than a thing of the past in

Cuba. With the embargo set in place, and Castro’s

socialist government the professional game was abolished

and ties were cut between the two countries. It is seen in

the numbers the impact the revolution had on American

baseball and Cuba as well. On 2012 opening day rosters in

the MLB only 11 players come from Cuba.58 To compare to

that, there are 95 players from the Dominican Republic on

58 Opening Day rosters feature 243 players born outside of the U.S., http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120405&content_id=27953108&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb, accessed, March 21, 2014.

27

Major League rosters.59 These high numbers of Dominican

players is strictly because of the academy program. With

essentially every big league team having an academy,

refining talent has become essential to the prominence of

MLB teams. Baseball in the Dominican has become exactly

that of Cuban baseball prior to 1959. Every aspect of the

game in the Dominican is now Americanized. The MLB calls

this globalizing baseball, but the process that is used is

deceitful, and remnant of American colonial traditions.

One can only hope that stricter laws will be put in place

to protect these young Latin American players, and one-day

baseball could be considered a global game. Rest assured

you can be certain that MLB teams are awaiting Cuba and

U.S. relations to go back to the way they were, giving the

MLB another country to exploit for baseball talent.

59 Opening Day rosters feature 243 players born outside of the U.S., http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120405&content_id=27953108&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb, accessed, March 21, 2014.

28

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29

Alan, M. Klein, Culture, Politics, and Baseball in the Dominican Republic,

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Alan M. Klein, Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream,

(New Haven, CT, Yale UP, 1991), Print.

Arturo J. Marcano, and David P. Fiddler, The Globalization of

Baseball: Major League Baseball and the Mistreatment of Latin American

Baseball Talent, Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Vol.

6, No. 2, (Spring, 1999), pp. 511-577.

Kelly Anne Butler, The Monroe Doctrine and U.S. Hegemony:

Hemispheric Hegemony, Lecture given on January 30, 2014.

Louis A. Perez Jr., Between Baseball and Bullfighting: The Quest for

Nationality in Cuba, 1868-1898, Journal of American History,

(Sept. 1994), Vol.81, Issue 2, pp. 493-517.

Opening Day rosters feature 243 players born outside of the U.S.,

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?

ymd=20120405&content_id=27953108&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb,

accessed, March 21, 2014.

30

Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, The Pride of Havana: A History of

Cuban Baseball, (New York, Oxford University Press, 1999),

Print.

Samuel O. Regalado, “Latin Players on the Cheap”: Professional Baseball

Recruitment in Latin America and the Neocolonialist Tradition, Indiana Journal

of Global Legal Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1, Symposium: Baseball in

the Global Era: Economic, Legal, and Cultural

Perspectives, (Fall, 2000), pp. 9-20.

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