Americas : The Eastern Stars How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris
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Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover
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- ISBN13: 9781594487507
- Condition: New
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Hopefully,the second edition will be corrected
A book by the wonderful,Talented author of Basque,Salt and Cod on the "fertile crescent "of baseball, San Pedro de Macoris? I thought,upon receiving my copy, instant classic.Now, I do not know if the author had a deadline to meet, or fact checking was cut by the publishers, however, there are factual errors evrywhere,historical as well as statistical.baseball fans are quite serious about numbers, dates are inaccurate, MVP awards are incorrect,even historical numbers are wrong{columbus discovery,et al.} Sammy sosa, the guiding light here,of course vastly completely discredited by his use of PED's is shown here to be part victim, part accomplice in his own undoing. There are recipes galore,topographical information, and stories of baseball as salavtion.Mostly,though it seems hurried, at times inchoherent.If the errors are corrected for another edition, then it will be a much much better book, and the ratings will reflect that.
 Excellent Read That's Not Your Typical Baseball Book
As a huge fan of baseball and a bigger fan of baseball books, I was a little surprised by Kurlansky's latest book. Most other baseball books are written by authors who are clearly passionate fans of the game. With this comes a focus on details of the sport that includes literary representation of games--or particular moments from games--and heavy reliance on statistics. Kurlansky's focus here is not the details of games but how professional baseball has impacted the culture and way of life of the Dominican Republic in general with s focus on San Pedro de Macoris, a small town that has produced 79 major league ball players between 1962 and 2008. Further, Kurlansky demonstrates himself as a journalist who knows a lot about the country. His focus is on the cultural history of the island and the impact of baseball on the culture and economics of the island. He does share anecdotes of famous players but most of these focus on their life outside of the diamond. We see how these famous players and their wealth have inspired a nation and a city to stress baseball to their male children as a way to overcome widespread poverty. It is fascinating to consider that even a modest (by today's standard) signing bonus is the equivalent of years of salary. Kurlansky shares that even players who have had very moderate success in baseball are able to return to the Dominican as heroes and set their families up in comparative luxury and security.
In addition to the impact of the game on the city and country, Kurlansky focuses on why this area has become such a fertile birthplace for baseball talent. He points out how politics and economics (he spends a lot of time on the failing sugar industry and its contribution to baseball) have all contributed to focusing on baseball as the road to wealth and comfort for thousands.
It seems that many of the negative reviews of this book come from baseball fans like me who hoped for a more traditional baseball book. Another thing that is difficult for me as a fan of the game is to learn about how the MLB develops these young kids in training academies in the hopes of finding the next Sammy Sosa or Robinson Cano but drops them as soon as they are no longer a prospect. On the other hand, I guess this is the nature of sports in our modern world. In summary, if you are looking for a book that is devoted to stories of the game, this may not be the book for you. If you want a book that takes a hard look at how baseball impacts a community and its economy and culture and vise versa, then this is a book that you will enjoy.
 More than just Baseball...
My wife is from the Dominican Republic and my youngest son is in love with baseball so this book was important to me for those reasons to start with.
As I read the book, I was to learn a great deal about the Dominican Republic, it's relationship to the other Caribbean countries, their storied past, thrust onto the world stage by Christopher Columbus (who for all intents and purposes also wiped out most of the native people) and modern political history.
All in all this little country has been exploited by many world powers, the people challenged beyond all belief by their own leaders and the invasions of various conquerors and "protectors", including the USA. It is a testimony to the people of this country of their steadfast determination to remain sovereign in the face of some many and varied assaults.
More recently, the history of baseball is well intertwined with the history of a sugar cane town, once the home of the great poets of the Dominican Republic. This book takes the reader through the history of baseball in the Dominican Republic, and folds in the influence and impact of baseball in the United States and other countries, like Japan.
The author takes time to describe in detail the context of the baseball in this and other communities where well-paying jobs are few and far between, and the jobs that are there are physically intense and profoundly low paying. Soon enough, it becomes clear to the reader that for many boys, there are few ways to "success" but through a chance to become a major league baseball star.
Several well-known major league stars' lives are covered, with details about their life before, during and after baseball. Not only do they have major league success (and failure) but many leverage their love and knowledge of the game to take advantage of the adjacent opportunities like runnning training camps, scouting for players, managing and so on.
The story is moderately complex, the dimensions of these peoples' existence many, and through it can be seen the hope and optimism that is so characteristic of the people in "DR".
If you're interested in baseball in general (there's plenty of stats); Dominican baseball stars; or even the history of the Dominican Republic (condensed), this book will reward you with it's anecdotal telling and many vignettes from the lives of world and Dominican leaders, successful (and not so successful) Dominican baseball players, and the author's own experiences during his visits with the many interesting people upon whom this book is based.
This account has given me a new respect for the people of the Dominican Republic and has reminded me of the fact that the human spirit can achieve almost anything that the soul embraces.
 Does anyone edit or fact check anymore?
Mr. Kurlansky owes Manny Alexander an apology...a BIG apology. I was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, Mr. Kurlansky writes about baseball as if it's a vague and foreign concept for him. The book is also chock full of factual errors. Most are harmless and show a total lack of understanding of baseball and well...just plain laziness by the author, editor and publisher. One is just awful. He states that while a member of the Yankees in 2000, Manny Alexander took equipment from Derek Jeter and sold it to memorabilia dealers. WRONG! Alexander never played for the Yankees. The incident happened in 2002 and the player caught dealing Jeter's equipment was not Manny Alexander. What had become an exercise of finding the error or clueless statement (Yes, Alfredo Griffin did hit .500 one season for Cleveland...in four at-bats), became one of jaw-dropping shock at how a well-respected non-fiction writer could have been so dangerously lazy.
Disappointed
Expected better from Mark. Too many diversions from the subject. Found errors indicating sloppy fact checking.
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