Monday, November 11, 2013
Anthony Cornwell, Jr. Fields of Broken Dreams: Latinos and Baseball
After reading the Fields of Broken Dreams: Latinos and Baseball I was shocked. I was shocked of how the Latinos are treated. It really comes into comparison of black athletes. The article mentioned how Miguel Tejada, shortstop of the Oakland Athletics came from a destitute barrio in the Dominican Republic with no running water and little electricity (Breton, 2000). That’s how most black athletes who make a career in sport come from. Most of them aren’t living in conditions this bad, but they are living in less fortunate conditions. It’s also crazy how the Latinos count for 25% of the MLB and are still treated this way. I also find it disrespectful of what Dick Balderson calls the “Boatload Mentality.” The Boatload Mentality” is described as signing a “boatload” of Latinos for little money and if only a couple make it to the big leagues, teams still come out ahead. Dick Balderson describes it as, “instead of signing four [American] guys at $25,000 each, you sign 20 [Dominican] guys for $5,000 each” (Breton, 2000, p. 8). That’s crazy. I’m not that big of a baseball fan but I do watch it. Also being a Yankees fan, I am a huge fan of the recently retired Mariano Rivera. He’s a Latino, and he is the greatest closer of all-time. The records he broke in the MLB may not ever get broken and I believe that the MLB should treat these players with more respect. This is supposed to be a country where everyone is equal, just because someone is coming from out of the country that doesn’t mean treat them badly. If they’re putting their ass on the line for a team and their organization, treat them correctly and pay them what they deserve.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteThis actually doesn't shock me at all. Most Latino baseball players come from third world countries and come from absolutely nothing. They see their way out as baseball just like as you said most African American athletes see it coming up in America. However, as far as the "boatload" mentality we can see that in real life as we'll. How many times do we here of Nike and other big corporation hiring cheap foreign labor to make their material. How many times do we see in today's world most immigrants doing the jobs which would be considered low class. That is because anything in America to them is better than where they come from. There is a trend beginning to develop in most of our readings and discussion is that sport culture often reflects what's going on in society. If there is a certain problem or issue in society there's probably the same issue in sports. Society revolves around the economy and so does sport.
Jude