Sports and Race Book Review

As Henry Yu notes in his essay Tiger Woods at the Center of History, the culture of American sports has evolved greatly in the twentieth century. Far from the days when ‘sport’ was a leisure activity reserved solely for the white elite, what we now know as the sports industry has become just that, a multi-billion dollar commodity that serves both as product and playing field for American society. Four essays, written by Henry Yu, George Lipsitz, Jose M. Alamillo and Amv Bass respectively, discuss the ways in which modern day sports showcase aspects of a multifaceted culture, from commodification and capitalism to multiculturalism and performed cultural expression.
In Mexican American Baseball: Masculinity, Racial Struggle, and Labor Politics in Southern California, 1930-1950, Jose M. Alamillo shows how Baseball was used both as an Americanization tool for Chicano agricultural laborers in LA and as a vehicle for Latino “cultural expression, racial and masculine pride, and community empowerment.” (87) He also discusses the way the sport enabled and hindered labor strikes through its contribution to the formation of patriarchal unions.
Using Tiger Woods as a case study, Henry Yu further discusses how sports became an arena where racial minorities could safely show superiority over whites, and were even encouraged to do so as a way to redeem America’s “racist past;” though only as long as they did so in “safe and nonthreatening” ways. One such way was as corporate endorser and spokesperson, a role that turned Wood’s athleticism and racial identity into a product for mass consumption.
In the early 1900s, Agricultural industries in Southern California organized “sandlot” baseball as “an Americanizing agent for the promotion of white Protestant American values and a capitalist work ethic” (87) for Chicano field laborers, many of whom were immigrants. Counter to the desired whitewashing effect, sandlot baseball was adopted by the Mexican American community as “a marker of cultural pride and community cohesion against a backdrop of racial discrimination and segregation in the workplace and public spaces.” (94) They used the community-wide activity as a way to “discuss, establish networks, and hone their organizing and leadership skills” (87), tools that they then put to practice organizing unions and strikes for better pay and working conditions. Unfortunately, the baseball culture also brought with it a "system of manliness” and machismo, which barred woman from leadership positions and so possibly undermined the effectiveness of their mutual campaign for labor rights.
In Yu’s Tiger Woods at the Center of History, Tiger Woods also used sports as entryway into historically white American culture, and as with the sandlot players, it was with the blessing of the dominant society. Wood’s multiracial background served as a symbol of the image of racial tolerance the U.S. presented to the rest of the world, despite a decidedly intolerant history. According to Yu, “black” celebrities such as Tiger Woods were perceived as being capable of saving white America from “racial problems that were endemic, built into the structure of U.S. society.” (335) However, this was only if Woods fulfilled the role that was expected of him and only challenged whites on the golf course, and in this way “correctly [channeling] the violent masculinity that popular imagery at that time ascribed to African American males.” 337 Wood’s role as Nike’s endorser was both safe and lucrative and went far beyond his use of Nike’s products. Nike used Wood’s racially complicated background as a selling tool to reach new markets, to the point that Wood’s relationship to Nike was “literally more important than his category of racial belonging.” (345). Unlike athletes of the past, modern athletes such as Tiger Woods are public figures that are an integral part of consumerism and capitalism.
Though I found Yu’s essay the most engaging and interesting, I also enjoyed learning about the history of the sandlot players in Southern California. I appreciated Alamillo’s effort to see the history through multiple lenses, including the gender lens that is so often neglected, especially by male authors. I also enjoyed learning about Tommie Smith and John Carlos and their brave gesture at the Mexico City Olympics.