ABSTRACT
Baseball has long been considered "America's pastime". Americans identify with baseball. Americans also identify with capitalism and entrepreneurship; innovation coupled with the drive to become the best. Much scholarly attention has been devoted to the history of Latinos in American baseball and, specifically, those from the Dominican Republic. Indeed, the Dominican Republic's love affair with the sport and evolving relationship with Major League Baseball (MLB) has been extensively examined. The rapidly growing and increasingly diverse sport industry reinforces the need to better understand how and why sport organizations are designed and structured in specific ways. The game of baseball first found its foothold in Latin America by way of Cuba. Professional baseball in the country grew in fits and starts from the 1920s through the 1950s. The evolution of the academy system in the Dominican Republic is part of a competition between MLB teams to sign and develop the many talented players found in that country.
