(In)Civility and Latinidad: The Case of Ozzie Guillén and Major League Baseball

In recent years, Venezuelan-born Osvaldo (Ozzie) Guillén has emerged as one of the most polemic managers in Major League Baseball. Media workers’ and fans’ constructions of Guillén locate him as outside of productive US... [ view full abstract ]

In recent years, Venezuelan-born Osvaldo (Ozzie) Guillén has emerged as one of the most polemic managers in Major League Baseball. Media workers’ and fans’ constructions of Guillén locate him as outside of productive US citizenship, despite him having become a naturalized citizen shortly after his Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 2005. (Social) media conversations about and representations of Guillén illustrate larger tensions around labor, immigration, and Latino masculinities in Major League Baseball and beyond. Given that over 25% of MLB players are born outside of the United States, most of them in the Caribbean basin and Latin America, MLB reflects broader tensions related to citizenship and Latino masculinities linked to concerns around terrorism and metaphors of invasion, criminality and aggression, all linked to the overabundance of immigrants and the influx of bodies from Latin America. As a cultural institution, MLB serves as a ready case study to better understand the tensions, conflicts and complexities of global markets and US citizenship, as it recruits and exploits a significant disposable labor force from countries economically subordinated to the United States. Baseball acquires significant cultural capital among Latin/o American young men as a route out of poverty and expression of identity just as it struggles to retain its eminence as “America’s pastime.” The managerial career of Ozzie Guillén illustrates these tensions around “productive” citizenship, wealth and Latino masculinities as Guillén has attained wealth and US citizenship through his participation in Major League Baseball while at the same time pushing back against conservative codes of conduct for MLB managers, emerging as one of the most outspoken field managers in recent history. Through an examination of key moments in the managerial career of Ozzie Guillén, this presentations illustrates how Guillén evokes latinidad and hyperbolic masculinity to answer back to anti-immigrant and anti-Latino media discourses. Thus, an analysis of Guillén’s persona provides a blueprint for disrupting racist discourses around Latino men, immigration and labor.