MLB Exploiting Latin Talent

Before reading the “Fields of Broken Dreams: Latinos and Baseball” article, I didn’t realize just how many Latino players are in the MLB, and that so many of them come from overwhelming poverty. I also didn’t realize how underreported and exploited Latino players in the major leagues are. According to Bretón (2000), Major League Baseball teams “sign a boatload of Latinos for little money and if only a couple make it to the big leagues, teams still come out ahead. Instead of signing four [American] guys at $25,000 each, you sign 20 [Dominican] guys for $5,000 each.” Everyone then says the justification for this is that these players from third world countries who were in great poverty have the chance to escape that. Bretón (2000) states “baseball gives them a way out, a chance to get paid, eat regularly, sleep in clean beds, and, for the very best, a crack at fame and fortune.” I agree that baseball may have been the only way for some of these players to pull themselves out of poverty, but I don’t think it is right for the MLB to sign the Latino ballplayers for so little when they are bettering their teams so much. According to Bretón (2000), “90 to 95 percent of Latino players signed to contracts never reach the big leagues. The vast majority never get a chance to play in the U.S., not even in the minor leagues. And all but a few of those brought to the U.S. are released without ever playing major league ball.” Also, when I read about Miguel Tejada, I found it amazing that growing up he had to go through all of the things that he did. Miguel Tejada is an incredible rags to riches story.

Jeff Meeson's Presentation

When Dr. Spencer told us Jeff Meeson from Octagon was coming to speak to our class, I didn’t really know what to expect. I had never heard of the company “Octagon” before. I didn’t look it up beforehand but it was actually fun to learn about it from Mr. Meeson. On their website it says, “Octagon is the world’s largest sponsorship consulting practice and a pioneer and leader in athlete & personality representation & management.” It was great to have him speak to our class about his company and what he does. I am majoring in Sport Management and minoring in Marketing, so this was a good example of a type of career that I might want to pursue. I thought Mr. Meeson’s slideshow presentation was very impressive. You can tell that their company has very creative and hardworking employees. I also really enjoyed it when Mr. Meeson split us up into groups to work on our own marketing strategy for bids. It was a good real world example of how people at Octagon would brainstorm ideas for a marketing strategy. Getting to listen to other people’s ideas and hearing their viewpoints really helps my creativity and I think it is a fun experience. I think it is very beneficial to have these guest speakers come to our class, especially when they have us get involved. These guest speakers do a good job of describing to us different aspects about our field of study and how many various opportunities are out there.

Dr. Meek: Racism and Hooliganism

Last Thursday, we had a guest speaker, Dr. Meek, come and speak to our class. Dr. Meek talked to us about soccer and the racism and hooliganism that goes on. He showed us video of examples of racism in soccer. I couldn’t believe some of the things that the fans were doing. I had never seen people throwing bananas on to the field or fans proudly displaying Swastikas at a game. The black soccer players had to play through it all. I couldn’t imagine how tough that must have been to try and play through. I’m not surprised that players eventually were taking a stand against the racism and I think it is a really good idea. Players like Thierry Henry, that have dealt with racism first hand, can really help send a message to stop the racist acts and actions in soccer.

 I was just as appalled when Dr. Meek talked about the hooliganism that goes on with soccer fans, or rather, soccer fanatics. Dr. Meek mentioned how fights between fans of opposing teams not only happen inside a stadium, but they occasionally happen outside of the stadium. The fans of other countries are crazy in how serious they take their sport. They act like everything they do is completely normal. I also thought how ridiculous is was what Dr. Meek said that when the police show up to stop a fight, both opposing team fans all then gang up on the police. Personally, I think it is going to take a lot of work for fans to act more appropriately. I don’t know if they will ever change, because it is something they take so much pride in.