• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / MIRÁNDOLO BIEN with EDUARDO DÍAZ 8.07.16 “LA PELOTA IS MORE THAN A BALL GAME”

MIRÁNDOLO BIEN with EDUARDO DÍAZ 8.07.16 “LA PELOTA IS MORE THAN A BALL GAME”

August 7, 2016 by Tia Tenopia

Sports have been a major presence in the lives of Mexican Americans since the early 20th century. This has been particularly true of Mexican Americans in the Midwest, where sports such as baseball took on a special significance. More than merely games for boys and girls, the teams and contests involved nearly the entire community, and often had political and cultural objectives…

— Richard Santillán, Vol. 7, Perspectives in Mexican American Studies, February 2001

Early-Cuban-Baseball3_200

Latinos have been at play since the early days of baseball.

It is estimated that 27 percent of today’s major league and 42 percent of minor league baseball players are Latino. We have come a long way since the great Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, and Luis Aparicio burst onto professional baseball diamonds, ushering in a dramatic demographic shift like no other in professional sport. Forty-three players from Puerto Rico alone have played for the Kansas City Royals, last year’s World Series champions. If you were to add players from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, and other Latin American countries, KC’s numbers would be even more stunning.

While fans have marveled at the prowess and achievements of the likes of Pedro Martínez, Sammy Sosa, Fernando Valenzuela, Rod Carew, Mariano Rivera and today’s David Ortiz (aka Big Papi), Yasiel Puig, Johnny Cueto and Jake Arrieta (whose paternal grandfather was Puerto Rican), and while Major League Baseball is taking stock of how Latinos are transforming the professional game, I think it is equally important to closely examine the role baseball has played in Latino community formation.

Baseball-Diamond-public-domain_200

Baseball spread in Latino communities like Kansas City and the Midwest.

Kansas City and the Midwest offer us an excellent lens through which to explore the impact of the game on our communities. On August 12 and 13, the Kansas City Museum and local baseball enthusiasts will host a community forum and collecting program designed to do just that. The program is part of a Smithsonian Institution initiative, Latinos and Baseball: In the Barrios and the Big Leagues. Spearheaded by curator Margaret Salazar-Porzio and advised by an accomplished and diverse group of scholars and community leaders, the initiative has already conducted similar programs in Los Angeles and San Bernardino, CA. After Kansas City, the initiative moves on to Syracuse, NY, back to Los Angeles, and then to Tampa, FL. A visit with the family of Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico is also scheduled. Decisions on excursions into other communities are pending finalization. With these stories and objects in hand, the plan is to open an exhibition at the National Museum of American History in 2020.

Pancho-Villa2

By 1910 the Mexican Revolution had provoked more than a half-million Mexicans to enter the US.

The Midwest experienced a great influx of Mexicans, owing, first, to the chaos of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-21. It is estimated that by 1910, over a half-million Mexicans had crossed the border, among them my maternal grandfather who became a copper miner in Arizona. The numbers continued to increase, with many workers recruited by railroad companies and meat packing industries of the Midwest. Understandably, Mexican families desired to acculturate to the ways of their new homeland, and baseball, including fast-pitch softball, became a path. Ever alert, companies encouraged the formation of baseball teams and leagues as a strategy to keep their Mexican workers content, with the added notion of discouraging or diminishing the impact of union organizing, among other worker-based initiatives. Not surprisingly, institutionalized racism and segregated social norms acted as strong deterrents to integrated play, forcing Midwestern Mexicans to organize their own leagues and tournaments. The Railway Ice Company of Argentine, KS, supported its own Mexican American team, while Kansas City, KS, fielded the Kansas Stateline Locos. Many of the teams selected ancestral names, like the Aztecas, Mayans, Cuatémoc and Águilas.

Book-Cover-Making-lemonade_200

Mexican families transformed baseball, among other leisure activities, into political spaces for advancement,

In his book, Making Lemonade out of Lemons: Labor and Leisure in a California Town, 1880-1960, José Alamillo argues that Mexican Americans helped lay the groundwork for civil rights struggles and electoral campaigns in the post-World War II era. In this case the “lemons” were low pay, segregated schooling, inadequate housing, and racial discrimination faced by Mexican citrus workers and their families in Corona, CA. The “lemonade” was how Mexican families transformed baseball, among other leisure activities, into political spaces to voice grievances, debate strategies for advancement, and build solidarity. Dr. Alamillo is a Professor of Chicana/o Studies at California State University, Channel Islands. He is also a member of the Smithsonian’s advisory baseball team.

Adrián Burgos’ benchmark study on Latinos and professional baseball from the 1880s to the present, Playing America’s Game: Baseball, Latinos and the Color Line, provides us a compelling story of the men who negotiated the color line at every turn—passing as “Spanish” in the major leagues or seeking respect and acceptance in the Negro leagues. Dr. Burgos teaches in the History Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also a Smithsonian pelotero.

While we acknowledge achievement at the professional level, let us also continue to learn more about and celebrate baseball in our local communities—from San Juan to San Bernardino—and its role in narrating our valiant and vibrant history of cultural negotiation, struggle and achievement.

_____________________________________

Copyright 2016 by Eduardo Díaz. Smithsonian logo and book covers used under”fair use” proviso of copyright law. All other photos are in the public domain.

Filed Under: Blogs, Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz Tagged With: Eduardo Díaz, Mirandolo Bien with Eduardo Diaz

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 5.23.25 – EMINENT DANGER

May 23, 2025 By wpengine

In 2012, in Puerto Rico there were 13,000 farms; in the recent agricultural census, between 8 and 10,000 farms are recorded; a substantial decrease in the figure reported for 2012. At present, the agricultural sector of the Puerto Rican economy reports approximately 0.62% of the gross domestic product, which produces 15% of the food consumed […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 5.23.25 MORE ON THE NEED TO GROW

May 23, 2025 By wpengine

The title of the documentary, The Need to Grow by Rob Herring and Ryan Wirick,  is suggestive. Its abstract character is enough to apply in a general and also in a particular way. The Need to Grow applies to both the personal and to so many individuals. At the moment, the need for growth in […]

BURUNDANGA DEL ZOCOTROCO 5.16.25 PELIGRO INMINENTE

May 15, 2025 By wpengine

Peligro Inminente En 2012, en Puerto Rico habían 13 mil granjas; en el censo agrícola reciénte se registran entre 8 y 10 mil granjas; una disminución sustantiva de la cifra reportada para 2012. Al presente, el sector agrícola de la economía puertorriqueña reporta aproximadamente 0.62% del producto bruto interno, que produce el 15% de la […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 5.23.25 MAYA BLUE EXHIBIT

May 23, 2025 By wpengine

Maya Blue Exhibit Incorporates the Artwork of Latino/a Artists A new exhibit, Maya Blue: Ancient Color, New Visions, at the San Antonio Museum of Art [SAMA], brings together for the first time pre-Columbian crafted clay figures, the art of Mexican modernist Carlos Mérida, and works by contemporary Latino/a artists Rolando Briseño, Clarissa Tossin, and Sandy […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin