This thesis examines the professionalism of Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic through the lens of institutional theory. The three pillars of institutional theory, regulative, normative, and cognitive, are used to analyze the recruitment process of Major League Baseball as it pertains to the Dominican Republic, and to determine potential causes of age fraud and steroid use. This study is qualitative in nature, and utilizes secondary sources that include academic articles, secondary interviews, and journalistic pieces as the basis of this research. The recruitment process used by Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic, and the factors that comprise this process, are, in part, responsible for the problems with age fraud and steroid use, and in order for Major League Baseball to maintain its reputation as a legitimate organization and to effectively address these problems, the recruitment process needs to be reevaluated.
