7. The Stuff of Champions: The Future of Puerto Rican Baseball

Puerto Rico has been a baseball powerhouse. For decades, we operated as our own country, under the same rules as nations like the Dominican Republic. Players could be signed to professional teams as young as 16. Then in 1990, Major League Baseball changed the rules to include Puerto Rico in its first-year player draft. Initially, it was seen as protecting young players. But today, there’s a sense that Puerto Rican baseball has lost its shine, and fewer players make it to the major leagues. In this episode, we examine how baseball reflects inequality and the lack of political sovereignty.Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for ad-free listening, early-access and exclusive bonus episodes with the chisme behind La Brega and all our podcasts: www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.