Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Major League Baseball is a 50 billion dollar business as measured by the valuation of its 30 organizations. Monies are spent and time is expended almost indiscriminately - flying players from one coast to another and then back again for a single at-bat or to pitch a third of an inning. And yet, little or no support - financial or otherwise - is given by either MLB and most of its of its member organizations to help players prepare for life after baseball by completing their educations and becoming engaged members of the communities in which they work and live. This begins with the annual player draft and the organization of education and English language programs at major league academies in the Dominican Republic. It continues throughout the vast minor league system where players lead almost totally insular lives, and in the MLB scholarship program which, while well intended, is out of touch with the realities of modern higher education. There are readily available correctives to all of these problems.