Media
Dirty Baseball Emir Metovic San Jose State University Kin. 101: Sport in America Daniel Murphy December 6, 2012
Introduction
Labor exploitation is one of the most interesting aspects of Major League Baseball and the way they conduct their business with Latin players. Exploitation is when a social understanding in which a group of people are mishandled for the beneficial gain of others. These people who are being mishandled, are usually aggravated by the people in power. This is comparable with labor situation in the Major Leagues because the businesses or corporations who are in power try to maximize their profit and very little labor expense. These people of course are the ones who have the money and are looking for the lowest cost labor they can find. This is a common theme all across the world as Nike has many sweatshops in Asia and so fourth. Major League Baseball uses this the most in probably any sport and since it is considered our countries past time, it makes it that much more pathetic knowing how they gain for their sport. The media has made us, the public, look at baseball as America’s sport and they display that throughout the game. They sing “Take me out to the ball game”, mentioning that the usual food would be peanuts and crackerjacks. Baseball was one of the first sports that started with having the national anthem sung before the game would start, signifying another way how Baseball has promoted this as America’s game. Now that is how the media portrays Major League Baseball, but the fact is the MLB is far from being “America’s past time”. I will discuss how Major League Baseball uses the ability to buy Latino players from the Dominican Republic as well as Cuba legally and how they are able to do this as a corporation. I will also discuss why these Latino players accept the offers they receive from the MLB. I will explain how these players’ families come into play and the way they are affected by this as well as the Latino
Introduction
Labor exploitation is one of the most interesting aspects of Major League Baseball and the way they conduct their business with Latin players. Exploitation is when a social understanding in which a group of people are mishandled for the beneficial gain of others. These people who are being mishandled, are usually aggravated by the people in power. This is comparable with labor situation in the Major Leagues because the businesses or corporations who are in power try to maximize their profit and very little labor expense. These people of course are the ones who have the money and are looking for the lowest cost labor they can find. This is a common theme all across the world as Nike has many sweatshops in Asia and so fourth. Major League Baseball uses this the most in probably any sport and since it is considered our countries past time, it makes it that much more pathetic knowing how they gain for their sport. The media has made us, the public, look at baseball as America’s sport and they display that throughout the game. They sing “Take me out to the ball game”, mentioning that the usual food would be peanuts and crackerjacks. Baseball was one of the first sports that started with having the national anthem sung before the game would start, signifying another way how Baseball has promoted this as America’s game. Now that is how the media portrays Major League Baseball, but the fact is the MLB is far from being “America’s past time”. I will discuss how Major League Baseball uses the ability to buy Latino players from the Dominican Republic as well as Cuba legally and how they are able to do this as a corporation. I will also discuss why these Latino players accept the offers they receive from the MLB. I will explain how these players’ families come into play and the way they are affected by this as well as the Latino
References: Lapchick, Richard. 2011. “The 2011 Racial and Gender Report Card: Major League Baseball. Print. (Accessed: December 2012). Marcano, Arturo. 2012. “Ballplayer: Pelotero—Major League Baseball, Human Rights, and the Globalization of Baseball”. Print. (Accessed: December 2012). Scott Rosner and Kenneth Shropshire. 2004. “The Business of Sports”. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Print. (Accessed: November 2012). Joanna M. Shepherd and George Shepherd. 2003. “U.S. Labor Market Regulation and the Export of Employment: Major League Baseball Replaces African-Americans with Latins”. Print. (Accessed: November: 2012). Spagnuolo, Diana. “Swinging for the Fence: A Call for Institutional Reform as Dominican Boys Risk Their Future for a Chance in Major League Baseball”. 2003. Print. (Accessed: December: 2012).