Friday, October 24, 2003
Culture Wars
A few days ago I was talking to a friend about watching Miguel Cabrera play in the Midwest League. One thing that randomly popped into my head was theme music. Whenever Cabrera came to the plate the PA system would play a bouncy Latin beat. This was true for any player from south of the border. Black players would get rap music. White hitters rock-and-roll. Maybe the PA person went to each player and asked them what they wanted, but seeing as it was always the same three songs, I'm guessing that was not the case.
Breton and Villegas wrote an amazing book called Away Games, which chronicled Miguel Tejada's rise through the Oakland system, and the difficulties faced by Latin prospects. I think that the choice of music is just another piece of evidence here...
Interesting that Moneyball and Away Games both cover minor league development in the Oakland system; they are two of the best baseball books I've read in a long time.
posted by David 6:44 PM
