by Stop Mike Lupica on February 27 at 5:44PM
A favorite of ours, David Zirin, writes about Hugo Chavez' revolt against Major League Baseball pillaging of Venezuelan youths. He cites some great specific examples of the negative impact MLB's "hold no bars" system has had on Latin American youth, in this case the Dominican Republic:
The impact on the athletes can be devastating. “Super Mario” Encarnación, once the most prized prospect of the Oakland As, was found dead in a Taipei motel room in October 2006, after an apparent drug overdose. He had been playing at the margins of the semi-pro baseball circuit desperate to not return home a failure to the DR.
Encarnación did do better than Lino Ortiz. The nineteen-year-old pitcher was about to be called up to the Majors when he died from taking an animal steroid in the DR looking for an edge. Steroids are actually legal and available over the counter, but their cost makes them prohibitive. Lino bought his from the pet store and met an all-too-early-death.
Zirin isn't the only one to note the negative effects of baseball's exploitation on Latin American countries. An old friend of ours (literally, for once: we actually vaguely remember lending him our Columbia ID when he was 20 years old so he could come out drinking with us old guys), Jonathan Helfgott, wrote about the topic of international baseball for The Hardball Times:
While the ethics of the buscón system under the best conditions can be debated, it clearly has major flaws. Major league scouts routinely pay buscones to give them exclusive access to players they like. Rumors float through Latin American baseball circles about which buscones pump their kids full of steroids or change identification papers to falsify ages, which ones have been shot for stealing clients, and worst of all, which ones force kids to perform sexual favors in return for training and representation.
And, as Zirin alluded to, shady agents lacking ethics aren't the only negative problems for young athletes pursuing the dream of becoming professional baseball players. Again, from Helfgott's article:
"[The players who get released] come home and do nothing," Escarramán said. "They have no education, no skills, and they come home depressed. Maybe one in 100 of these kids will make the major leagues. I think Major League Baseball needs to help us find a way to deal with the other 99.
"These kids have such huge egos," Torres said. "When they get their first contract, they buy cars and fancy clothes and walk around their home towns saying ‘estoy firmado’ [I’m signed]. When they get released, they feel like they have failed and can never go home. You hear stories of kids trying to kill themselves after they get released. It is a bad situation."
Kids like the aforementioned Super Mario Encarncion.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has had enough of the exploitation of his country's youth as "cheap labor" for MLB, so he is trying to perhaps nationalize the country's baseball system, starting with a 10% tax levied on MLB contracts accepted by Venezuelan prospects. The goal is stop the problem, before Venezuela starts facing some of the problems the DR is facing, namely a plethora of depressed young adults with poor schooling (most prospects drop out of school to practice baseball all day to stay ahead of the competition) and even less self-esteem. That's not good for his nation's economy.
As for Major League Baseball's response? As Zirin noted in his article, they aren't happy with it, and haven't been too happy with Hugo Chavez for a while. Four teams - the Indians in 2004, the Boston Red Sox and the San Diego Padres in 2005, and the Baltimore Orioles in 2006 - have "cut and run", shutting down their academies. Only 11 MLB teams participated in the Venezuelan summer league this year; in the past the number was almost twice as high. Why should MLB bother, when there is plenty of other cheap labor to exploit? The next stop? According to Helfgott, probably Africa. He goes into great detail on the inroads MLB is making in South Africa.
Personally I think South Africa will be too expensive for MLB, so they'll try somewhere else. I've noted it before, but the Yankees have a deal with China. And if that proves too expensive, maybe MLB will talk to Cambodian Joe Cook. Stay tuned...
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The impact on the athletes can be devastating. “Super Mario” Encarnación, once the most prized prospect of the Oakland As, was found dead in a Taipei motel room in October 2006, after an apparent drug overdose. He had been playing at the margins of the semi-pro baseball circuit desperate to not return home a failure to the DR.
Encarnación did do better than Lino Ortiz. The nineteen-year-old pitcher was about to be called up to the Majors when he died from taking an animal steroid in the DR looking for an edge. Steroids are actually legal and available over the counter, but their cost makes them prohibitive. Lino bought his from the pet store and met an all-too-early-death.
Zirin isn't the only one to note the negative effects of baseball's exploitation on Latin American countries. An old friend of ours (literally, for once: we actually vaguely remember lending him our Columbia ID when he was 20 years old so he could come out drinking with us old guys), Jonathan Helfgott, wrote about the topic of international baseball for The Hardball Times:
While the ethics of the buscón system under the best conditions can be debated, it clearly has major flaws. Major league scouts routinely pay buscones to give them exclusive access to players they like. Rumors float through Latin American baseball circles about which buscones pump their kids full of steroids or change identification papers to falsify ages, which ones have been shot for stealing clients, and worst of all, which ones force kids to perform sexual favors in return for training and representation.
And, as Zirin alluded to, shady agents lacking ethics aren't the only negative problems for young athletes pursuing the dream of becoming professional baseball players. Again, from Helfgott's article:
"[The players who get released] come home and do nothing," Escarramán said. "They have no education, no skills, and they come home depressed. Maybe one in 100 of these kids will make the major leagues. I think Major League Baseball needs to help us find a way to deal with the other 99.
"These kids have such huge egos," Torres said. "When they get their first contract, they buy cars and fancy clothes and walk around their home towns saying ‘estoy firmado’ [I’m signed]. When they get released, they feel like they have failed and can never go home. You hear stories of kids trying to kill themselves after they get released. It is a bad situation."
Kids like the aforementioned Super Mario Encarncion.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has had enough of the exploitation of his country's youth as "cheap labor" for MLB, so he is trying to perhaps nationalize the country's baseball system, starting with a 10% tax levied on MLB contracts accepted by Venezuelan prospects. The goal is stop the problem, before Venezuela starts facing some of the problems the DR is facing, namely a plethora of depressed young adults with poor schooling (most prospects drop out of school to practice baseball all day to stay ahead of the competition) and even less self-esteem. That's not good for his nation's economy.
As for Major League Baseball's response? As Zirin noted in his article, they aren't happy with it, and haven't been too happy with Hugo Chavez for a while. Four teams - the Indians in 2004, the Boston Red Sox and the San Diego Padres in 2005, and the Baltimore Orioles in 2006 - have "cut and run", shutting down their academies. Only 11 MLB teams participated in the Venezuelan summer league this year; in the past the number was almost twice as high. Why should MLB bother, when there is plenty of other cheap labor to exploit? The next stop? According to Helfgott, probably Africa. He goes into great detail on the inroads MLB is making in South Africa.
Personally I think South Africa will be too expensive for MLB, so they'll try somewhere else. I've noted it before, but the Yankees have a deal with China. And if that proves too expensive, maybe MLB will talk to Cambodian Joe Cook. Stay tuned...
Leave a comment
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