Hablamos Inglés: Media Portrayals of English-Proficient Latin American MLB Players

Abstract

Latin American players comprise of a large portion of Major League Baseball (MLB). As of Opening Day 2019, 26.5 percent of MLB was from a Latin American country. Since the Latino influence is large, the purpose of this textual analysis is to determine how mainstream media frame the English-proficiency of Latin American MLB players. For a player to be eligible for this study, they must have debuted during or before the 2018 season and speak enough English to hold an interview. Once those players were determined, a Google and NewsBank search was conducted with the name of the player and a search term regarding their English ability. From that, 39 players had at least one article written about them that references their English-proficiency. Three central themes emerged: speaking English is central to success in MLB, language helps players to acculturate to American life, and the players are self-motivated to become bilingual. These findings are significant because they do not align with traditional Latino stereotypes of being uneducated, lazy, and lacking a willingness to learn.

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