The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic

by Rob Ruck

A history of baseball in the Dominican Republic where the sport is viewed by many as a way of life. This republic with a population of 6 million has spearheaded the Latin infusion of talent into the major leagues since the early 1960s.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

200 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

Rob Ruck teaches at the University of Pittsburgh. Author of Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh and The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic, his documentary work includes the Emmy Award–winning Kings on the Hill: Baseball’s Forgotten Men. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Maggie Patterson, his coauthor for Rooney: A Sporting Life.

Reviews

[Steven]

As is so often the case, the history of sport in a region doubles as a history of the region itself. Ruck devotes almost as much of his own writing to the national politics and economics as he does Baseball, letting the people who were involved with the game speak on it for themselves. The interviews, which include time spent with such luminaries as Juan Marichal and Tony Pena, are easily the best parts of the book, the rest of it being informative but lacking enough spark to make it truly interesting, as well as sometimes being subject to some uncomfortably archaic exoticism.