This next segment I want to talk about is in regards to the inclusion of the Latino culture. For the purpose of time and the blog, we will only look at a media article which explains, in a nutshell, everything we need to know about the Dominican Republic and baseball. The article was done by Joe Connor, a sports contributor to ESPN and is entitled Welcome to the Dominican Republic. What I want you to pay close attention to is how exactly we have included/excluded some, if any, of the cultural values of baseball according to the Dominican. Please read and respond.
Here is the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2291226
I think that the lack of DR culture inclusion in major league baseball is more of a reflection to the vast disparity of our economic system. However, I think there are a lot of commonalities between their ‘structure’ of the game (i.e. wood bats, seasons’, stadiums, etc.), as ours here in the US. Now the inclusion of memorabilia or food at games that represent DR is not as prevalent as well, due to, once again – economics. Albeit, there are many players from DR within the organizations that play for these teams, but how many DR fans are present at these games. From a marketing standpoint, how would the owners feel confident that food, memorabilia, music will provide any revenue if no one in the stands is from the DR. Hence, the reason at most ballparks (minor league and/or major league) you will see the usually all-American food, hot dogs, beer, and peanuts. Potentially, as baseball continues to grow and America becomes more diverse, and our economic position improves (so more people can afford to attend these games) you see more inclusion of other cultures within the game of American baseball.
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ReplyDeleteI could not agree more in the disparity of our economic system and even deeper, our social class. To fully understand this perspective, one must not leave out discussion regarding Karl Marx. Our economic system (Western philosophy) is based on capitalism, which Karl Marx strongly opposed. Marxism, on the other hand, virtually says that there is a need for more social inclusion, particularly in the disparity of classes. Essentially, Marx would say that the dominant groups of people (upper-class, white owners) are doing nothing less than exploiting and taking advantage of the less economically advantaged individuals (lower/middle-class, Latino players) (Nixon, 2007, p. 33). This social conflict theorist view can very much explain baseball’s outlook on its players, particularly the Latinos.
Now, as far as your point about fans in the stands, food, and memorabilia, I take it as not a reason why we are trying to please who is there, but as a way to keep non- American’s out. If you read over Mr. Connor’s article and outline, he clearly shows the styles of food, memorabilia, etc. that people of Latino ethnicity enjoy. However, to make sure that “America’s Pastime” stays that way, we have chosen not to include such material items. This is our way of keeping the game an “American” one instead of total social/cultural inclusion. I highly doubt that American fans would turn away from the game if we started selling "La Bandera Dominicana’s” at the concessions, or, if every once in awhile they threw in a song by Juan Luis Guerra, the Dominican’s most popular song artist. The only reason Enrique Iglesias is even played in the United States is because he moved here engulfed himself into our narrow-minded American culture.
I cannot help but quote Dr. Theresa Walton’s article (2009) on Olympic runner Sydney Maree when she quotes Jackie Hogan:
Nations are more than geopolitical entities; they are discursive constructs—constructions of the character, the culture, and the historical trajectory of a people. Such constructions, by their very
nature, are acts of inclusion and exclusion. They symbolically delineate membership in the national ‘imagined community’ (p.17).
This relates perfectly to both our discussion and Joe Connor’s media article. We (American baseball fans) are trying to force our culture upon the Latino players (and for our discussion’s sake Latino fans) throughout the game. We are telling them that we all have the same values, traditions, styles, likes, dislikes, etc. and that we all live in this community where everything is just peachy; if it’s done the American way. If you don’t like it? Tough. This community or, rather, this fallacy, is the unfortunate sense of naivety that we have shown. We imagine it. We thrive on it. We expect everyone to lie down and accept it. Obviously, the time has come for change.
Nixon, H.L. (2007). Social theories and research methods in sport sociology. Sport in a changing world. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
Walton, T. (2009). Split Between Nations: Tracking the Transnational Identity of Sydney Maree. In Harris, J. and Parker, A. (Eds) Sport and Social Identities. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Nice societal level analysis of what it means to be 'American' and how that's tied to baseball. It's most interesting since Latinos are one of the only groups (maybe like Japanese players today) who have historically used baseball not be become Americanized (as Jewish players, Italian players (i.e. DiMaggio) did in the late 1800s and early 1900s). Instead, Latino players, even back to the early 1900s have used baseball as a way to celebrate their own various cultures and to try to gain respect for it in the US context and at home (Roberto Clemente provides an excellent example -- he'd always speak first in Spanish when giving interviews. It drove US reporters crazy and many of them treated him very poorly. He would not answer to 'Bob' when they tried to Americanize his name.)
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