Masculinity and Sports

In this week’s reading, Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture by Nick Trujillo, we examine the close relationship of sports and masculinity. As long as there have been athletics, the idea of dominance and victory have been idealized, and the vision of male hegemony has long been associated with sports and sports culture. Trujillo shows us that the media plays into this stereotype by advancing this notion through macho/manly portrayals of sports figures, in this case Nolan Ryan.

Nolan Ryan had a remarkable baseball career. I saw him pitch in 1993, nearly 25 years after he began his big league career. His longevity and pitching prowess made him a luminary in the baseball world. He was probably never considered “the best” pitcher of any one era, but his sustained excellence and his aforementioned longevity allowed him to stay relevant for much longer than the average baseball career. He played for long enough to establish quite a few prominent pitching records, including some of the most hallowed: career strikeouts and career no-hitters. When he threw his seventh and final no hitter in 1991, he was 44 years old: most pitchers careers are long finished at 44, and here is Nolan Ryan pitching his seventh no hitter! He also set the all-time strikeout record a few years earlier. Ryan has capitalized on his big league success by staying involved in the Texas Rangers organization, where he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer.

            The media had a love affair with Nolan Ryan towards the end of his career. His elder statesman and tough guy reputations were highlighted by a series of commercials in his careers’ twilight that painted him as a “man’s man.” Playing though pain and strife to achieve great things. It is strikingly similar to the media’s love affair with Brett Favre about a decade-and- a-half later. The media’s portrayal of Ryan and Favre later helped to advance the already entrenched hegemony of sports masculinity.