Presidente, Madrina, Pelotero, Demócrata, Comunista, Madre: The Dominican Family at the Ballpark

This paper examines the relationship between women and baseball from the midst of the Trujillo dictatorship in 1955 through the first democratic transition in 1978. Dominicans have widely accepted baseball as a central component of their national identity.  As with many other examples of nationality and sport, however, scholars and journalists tend to focus on the action on the field and in the male-dominated sporting press as the representations of this identity, leaving women on the fringes.  Yet, in the Dominican Republic, women engaged in baseball as fans, madrinas (female mascots or supporters), sandlot and Little League players, organizers, and sacrificing mothers. Using images of women and girls around professional baseball teams, international amateur competitions, and sandlot games, this paper turns the focus on women and how they were projected and projected themselves into the Dominican family that coalesced around the national pastime. The equation of the nation with a family became an important concept in the late 1950s when Trujillo faced growing criticism at home and abroad and remained important amid the political divisions of the Cold War. I argue that the roles defined for the Dominican President or Patrón, women, girls, ballplayers, and baseball fans as they related to sport paralleled expectations for the proper relationship between the state and citizens and among Dominican citizens themselves. Women struggled to redefine and expand these roles as they worked alongside men to create a democracy that suited Dominican needs and expectations.