Play Ball! The Gómez Dictatorship and the Development of Baseball in Venezuela, 1909–1935

Abstract

Abstract:In the first decades of the twentieth century, the adoption of baseball as a national sport spread quickly throughout the Caribbean. Juan Vicente Gómez, who ruled Venezuela with an iron hand from 1908 to 1935, supported its development by assuring that the teams he and his sons owned won the contests in which they participated. A review of available literature suggests that his encouragement of baseball, even on his own terms, proved an effective way to distract the general population from the otherwise ruthless tactics he employed to keep his government in power.