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Dominican baseball: A global-local confluence
A Global-Local confluence explores the links between global production and local influence, going beyond the simple description that the local center supplies labor to the global industry. In the case of MLB and their local centers in the Dominican Republic, such as amateur little leagues and academies, there is clearly... Continue reading
Posted Jul 22, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Alternative Pipelines and the Global Baseball Industry
The Dominican Republic is currently the only country in which every MLB team has not just a presence, but an academy and thus a distinct pipeline. The Dominican government has limited involvement in their own baseball industry, leaving it partially unregulated (buscones) and partially regulated by MLB. Nearby countries where... Continue reading
Posted Jul 20, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Strategic ambiguity in Dominican identity
Ginetta Candelario in "Black Behind the Ears" denies the assumption that for Dominicans, black and Hispanic identities are mutually exclusive opposites. Instead, she asserts that the Dominican identity relies on "strategic ambiguity," allowing for the Dominican race to be interpreted in different ways in different contexts. This flexibility should allow... Continue reading
Posted Jul 19, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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No sugar-coating
"Sugar" depicts a fictional Dominican ballplayer's struggle to adjust to life as a minor leaguer in the United States. It highlights the ignorance on the U.S. side in assuming an understanding of the difficulties that Dominican players go through in adjusting to life and baseball in the U.S. For the... Continue reading
Posted Jul 19, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Santiago and Centro León
On Thursday we travelled to Santiago, the second largest city in the country and home of the Águilas Cibaeñas. Before lunch, we had the chance to go to Centro León, a cultural center and museum in town. The anthropological museum was focused on the idea of Dominicanidad or "Dominicanness" as... Continue reading
Posted Jul 19, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Educating MLB
The most significant problem in the Dominican pipeline to and through MLB is of player education. Most players who are signed by an MLB team have not completed high school, and many of them have not even begun. The most obvious cause of the lack of player education is the... Continue reading
Posted Jul 15, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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A higher standard
Despite my overwhelming excitement at seeing one of the Mariners' DSL teams play today, I did stop to notice that the Mets' Academy is in a league of its own. With four large classrooms and a projector, four English teachers (all undergraduates from the University of Central Florida), and a... Continue reading
Posted Jul 9, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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By the (poor) people for the (wealthy) people
Yesterday we got a tour of Estadio Quisqueya, home of two Dominican Winter League teams: the Leones del Escogido and the Tigres de Licey. The stadium, which superficially looks quite similar to Estadio Tetelo Vargas in San Pedro, now seats about 11,000 and has a rim of luxury press boxes... Continue reading
Posted Jul 9, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Dominican baseball ≠ MLB
Many researchers, such as Alan Klein, have chosen to study Dominican baseball only within its relationship to MLB. However, research done from this standpoint misses the entire side of Dominican baseball that is not part of the MLB pipeline, and assumes that the only Dominican baseball dream involves playing in... Continue reading
Posted Jul 5, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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To respect or not to respect the unwritten rules
MLB advertises itself in the Dominican Republic as a way for the poor to ascend out of poverty. However, this intense focus on baseball as a "way out" misses much of the joy and love involved in the game. For C.R.L. James, the enjoyment of the game constitutes a facet... Continue reading
Posted Jul 4, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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"Ballplayer: Pelotero": Products of the system
Ballplayer: Pelotero tells the story of two top Dominican prospects as they approach July 2, the day on which MLB teams can first sign 16-year-olds. Independent trainer Astín Jacobo, working with prospect Jean Batista, tells him that he will secure a signing bonus over $1 million. This leads Batista, expecting... Continue reading
Posted Jul 3, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Scanning for work
Yesterday we visited the Archivo General de la Nación (National Archives) in Santo Domingo. After a tour of many of the artifacts and current exhibits of the archives, we were shown the process that a document goes through from the time it enters the archives to the time it is... Continue reading
Posted Jul 3, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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When Tommy John is not an option
After hearing so much about the Dominican players who make it, today we had the opportunity to talk with a couple of players who were released by their respective professional teams before reaching the majors. We were invited into Leonicio "El Indio" Rodriguez's small shack that doubled as a shoe... Continue reading
Posted Jul 1, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Too good to wait: Beltre as a hot commodity
As a kid, Adrian Beltré didn't even have a glove. He used cardboard or caught bare-handed until his father wrote to a friend in New York, who shipped a real leather glove to the DR for the young Beltré. Inputs to Beltré as a commodity on the Global Commodity Chain... Continue reading
Posted Jun 29, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Pre-integration integration in the major leagues
The term 'integration' reminds most baseball fans of Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in the major leagues. But the first 'black' player is quite different from the first non-white player, who preceded Robinson. The ambiguity in the terms 'black' and 'non-white' came to the forefront of... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Astros Academy: Busy with boredom
The tour guide at the Astros academy told us that they were training the players to move to the United States, to adjust to a tight schedule, long days, and no siesta. The players were to wake up at 6, play baseball until 1:30, then go to English class until... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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A trinity in Consuelo
Mark Kurlansky paints the job of cane cutting in San Pedro de Macorís as bordering on abusive: long hours, sweltering heat, and exceedingly low pay. When the cane mill was running in Consuelo, baseball, cane wages, and the health of the town seemed innately interconnected, and only with the reduction... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Columbust
The Colonial Zone is full of contradictions. An historic neighborhood in the first city in the New World, it serves to attract tourists and preserve original sites and landmarks, while quietly marking the beginning of the end of the native Taíno people on the island. I spoke with my host... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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More than half mental
Yogi Berra once said that 90% of the game is half mental. According to officials at the Major League Baseball offices in the Dominican Republic, it's 95% mental and only 5% physical. By feeding them this figure, MLB encourages young players to think that anything is possible – if they... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Whatever it takes
While we chatted with the little league director Rudy Ramirez, we saw practice end for a training school for older players. A couple of the players wandered over to us, speaking unaccented English, which drew our attention. The players introduced themselves – they were 16 and 20, both from the... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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A 'Cultured' Look at Baseball
Although I'm certainly guilty of using "cultured" to refer only to those activities traditionally perceived as intellectually or aesthetically pleasing to the upper classes in Western Europe, it's very clear that 'culture' and 'high culture' are not synonymous. While high culture is the goal imposed upon societies that they strive... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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"Road to the Big Leagues": A crowd-pleaser
"Road to the Big Leagues," or "Rumbo a Las Grandes Ligas" is advertised as an "uplifting crowd-pleaser," and it does not disappoint. Focusing primarily on the success stories of both the young and hopeful and the superstars, the documentary does not reveal the futures of the players who do not... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Study Sports and Society | CIEE
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Whatever it takes
Posted Jun 24, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Santo Domingo Liberal Arts | CIEE
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More than half mental
Yogi Berra once said that 90% of the game is half mental. According to officials at the Major League Baseball offices in the Dominican Republic, it's 95% mental and only 5% physical. By feeding them this figure, MLB encourages young players to think that anything is possible – if they... Continue reading
Posted Jun 24, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Santo Domingo Liberal Arts | CIEE
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Columbust
Posted Jun 24, 2015 at Study Abroad Dominican Republic Blog | Santo Domingo Liberal Arts | CIEE
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