Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream: Amazon.ca: Assoc. Prof. Alan M. Klein: Books

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From Publishers Weekly

One hundred years ago two Cubans introduced baseball to the Dominican Republic, where it became the national pastime. But the game has evolved into something other than a carbon copy of the U.S. sport, and Klein, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Northeastern University, shows how the two differ. After a jargon-laden introduction, he presents an excellent short history of Dominica, the development of teams sponsored by the large sugar refineries (hence the book's title), and an absorbing analysis of how the Dominican national persona affects players and fans today.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

In the Dominican Republic baseball is not only a game but a national obsession. Exported from the United States and still controlled by it, the game is also an arena of intercultural relations. "Sugarball" describes how Dominican baseball fosters national pride and competition with the United States while at the same time promoting acceptance of the North American presence in the country. Alam M.Klein traces the introduction and development of baseball in the Dominican Republic, provides sketches of fans, stadiums, and players, and discusses such issues as the origin of the Dominican baseball academies and the international competition for Dominican players. Throughout, he evokes the enthusiam that Dominicans have for the game and shows how it mirrors the conflict they feel between allowing and resisting American hegemony in their country. Klein relates the efforts of major league teams to seek talent in the Dominican Republic and shape the game to suit their own purposes - efforts that resemble other exploitative enterprises in the Third World. These activities evoke little resentment, because for many Dominican young men baseball is the only way out of a life of unemployment or of hard labour in cities or cane fields. At the same time, their prowess at baseball encourages the Dominicans to oppose further interference from the Americans. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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3.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Sugarball: The American Game: The Dominican Dream, July 3 2002

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"s8675309" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream (Paperback)

In Sugarball, author Alan Klein attempts to draw on the complicated relationship between baseball in the United States and the Dominican Republic by equating it to that of a neocolonial power to its subordinate nation. In the same way that all the resources are tapped from the underdeveloped nation and utilized by the parent, the United States has exploited the Dominican Republic's most lucrative export, baseball players. The exchange has become institutionalized and the top players from the Dominican leagues major aim is to move into the Major League Baseball system, leaving the economic desolation of home and depleting the nation's culture.

The relationship is both revered and abhorred by the people of the nation. As most boys in the Dominican Republic have few choices of employment after their minimal education, baseball is seen as a way out of the poverty that pervades the country. The Dominican attitude toward the Americans is typical of the aforementioned neocolonial relationships; we are loathed and imitated all at once. In a show against US control, the game has been altered by Dominicans to showcase their own culture and values, thereby serving to stamp their own mark on the sport in the most public fashion.

Though Klein's reasoning is mostly sound throughout, he does make some stretches in his interpretation of the hegemonic behavior exhibited by the Dominican people. It would have been beneficial to have more in-depth information about how the Dominican players feel about the choices they make in leaving their homeland. Additionally, further discussion into how the purported baseball resistance is making a difference throughout the country would have been of interest. Overall however, Sugarball is a valuable look into how the economic state of the Dominican economy lead to its virtual rule by American industry and how the all-time American game, baseball, has been used and altered by the Dominican people into a game with their own flair and culture stamped on it.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Sugarball, July 1 2002

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Aaron Hayes (Pullman, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream (Paperback)

In Sugarball, Klein examines the role of baseball in the Dominican Republic with all its cultural and economic importance, and specifically the part it plays in the hegemony and cultural resistance of the Dominicans in relation to the United States. Not only are there extensive arguments for these cultural implications, but Klein also focuses greatly on the history and culture of Dominican baseball by itself. He gives a clear picture of what baseball means there through extensive research and observations of life in the Dominican Republic. Filled with quotes and interviews of various people, as well as statistics and historical facts about Dominican baseball, this study clearly reflects the sociology and anthropology of sport as an emerging legitimate field.
Although he did give a well studied background of the Dominican baseball situation, Klein attempts to prescribe many other ideas to his findings, and only partially succeeds. Even he admits in his book that many of his preconceived notions of what he was going to find were clearly not there, from overt cultural resistance with baseball among certain groups to the pinning of all the social problems of Dominicans to the United States. The neo-Marxist interpretations of his findings bogged down his observations with jargon and implications that are not clearly there, and his admitted failures at finding certain schemas leads his readers to question the other aspects of his interpretation. However, his observations of this phenomenon should not be disregarded. His research alone provides a very valuable tool for the understanding of United States cultural influence in Latin America in general, and in the Dominican Republic in particular.
In all, Sugarball provides a very in depth look into the meaning of baseball in the Dominican culture. Whether or not it can be used for an argument in such a way as he implies it does remains a question, but his basic point of its incredible importance is well taken. This book will be a valuable tool for those who are interested in baseball and the culture of Latin America.

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3.0 out of 5 stars It's more than a game, Jun 29 2002

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John Novak (Seattle, Wa.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream (Paperback)

This book, Sugarball, dives in and explores the relation that the people of the Dominican Republic have with United States in the context of baseball. The author, Alan Klein, argues that the Dominican Republic is a country underdeveloped, exploited, abused, ravaged in poverty, destitution, and most importantly inundated with American culture; but yet still finds a way to express their independence and nationality through baseball. He further argues that Dominican Baseball, though an American game with American influences has managed to survive with a distinctly Dominican feel; and this feeling is a source of resistance to American hegemony.
How does one prove cultural resistance against cultural hegemony? Klein attempts it through insightful historical investigation and related to personal observations of behavior with in the culture. However, his premise is inherently intangible. His evidence lies not in overt actions, but in the passive behaviors of the Dominican fan. Behaviors that seen like conscious efforts to behave un-American. If one were to point out any of form of resistance one would not see resistance, it is only when taken in the cultural construct as a whole that one begins to see Klein's point.
Because of the inherently intangibly nature of culture, Klein fails to prove clear cultural resistance, rather he succeeds in establishing the conflict that Dominicans have as both needing to assimilate with American culture in order to gain a better life, and their need for a since of national superiority, and independence free from American dominance. Klein essentially establishes the existence of a love-hate relationship through the game of baseball in the Dominican Republic.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Sugarball: The American Game, The Dominican Dream
The book "Sugarball: The American Game, The Dominican Dream," by Alan M. Klein shows the development of baseball in the Dominican Republic and how it has become the national game... Read more

Published on Jun 28 2002 by rctindall

4.0 out of 5 stars Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream
A thorough report and extensive research conducted by Alan M. Klein offers an insight into Dominican society and the role of baseball. Read more

Published on Jun 17 2002 by Stefanie Matsubara