On the average major league roster, Hispanic or Latin-born players today account for at least 25 percent of the team. In 1900 there were none; in 1911 the number had crept to two; and after World War II when American GI’s returned to the playing fields, there was, for a brief time, only one Latino in the major leagues. From 1900 through the 1940s early Latino players suffered discrimination, poor accommodations, low pay and homesickness to play a game they loved. Those who were both talented and light-skinned enough to make it to the majors were mocked for their foreign-ness. Those in the Negro Leagues were, like African American ballplayers, segregated and largely ignored by the public and major league scouts. Building on what we know about the careers of these pioneer players, Nick Wilson draws on primary documents and interviews to round out our knowledge of them as people. Organized by decade, this book presents new information on the players who came before baseball’s great Latin explosion. Profiled here are Rafael Almeida, Jose Mendez, Miguel Gonzalez, Luis Tiant, Sr., Martin Dihigo, Armando Marsans, Rodolfo Fernández, Roberto Ortiz, Adolfo Luque, Cristobal Torriente, Hiram Bithorn and Pedro “Preston” Gómez, and many others. An appendix on Americans who influenced the Latin migration is also included.
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About the Author
Also the author of Voices from the Pastime (2000), SABR member Nick C. Wilson conducts baseball interviews for the weekly newspaper La Voz Nueva de Colorado. He lives in Denver, Colorado.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fine Contribution to Baseball History,
By A reader (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Early Latino Ballplayers In The United States: Major, Minor And Negro Leagues, 1901-1949 (Hardcover)
This is a terrific book that covers a relatively neglected subject in a thorough and engaging manner. McFarland has a habit of publishing baseball books blighted by poor writing and non-existent editing, but when they receive an excellent manuscript, the result is an excellent book.
Wilson covers notable Latino players in the majors, minors, and Negro leagues in the first half of the 20th century, and he specifically exludes those who later, in the 1950s, became famous and frequently reported-on stars, such as Minnie Minoso and Roberto Avila. The book is neatly divided into chapters that each cover one decade. Only one individual,major league pitcher and coach Adolfo Luque, gets a chapter all to himself. The biographies of the various players are presented in an informal, anecdotal manner that holds the reader's interest. The author, who evidently is fluent in Spanish (he writes for a Spanish language newspaper), conducted interviews with an amazing number of former players, many of them in their 80's and 90's now, as well as with surviving sportswriters who covered the men during their playing days. The author is to be congratulated for having tracked down these old ballplayers, and the interviews he conducted yielded a treasure house of anecdotes, some of which have appeared elsewhere, but most of which are new, at least to readers of the American, English language press. Although the author occasionally gets bogged down in discussions of extremely minor figures, for the most part he concentrates on players whose careers were notable successes. He also deals with the issue of American racism, and the obsessive concern of Major League Baseball with keeping men of color (ANY color other than "pure" white) out of the major leagues. It's interesting to learn how many Latino players managed to "pass" as white, despite their obvious African blood, and how others wriggled under the color line by being described as "Indians." The book sort of straggles to its end with two appendices, one of them discussing Americans who were influential in bringing about the migration of Latino players, and the other on the Washington Senators' spring training camps during the World War II era, when the team contained a large number of Latinos. Al in all, an excellent, engaging, and highly informative read.
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