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    Mexican American Baseball in South Texas
    Mexican American Baseball in South Texas
    Mexican American Baseball in South Texas
    Ebook231 pages1 hour

    Mexican American Baseball in South Texas

    By Richard A. Santillan, Gregory Garrett, Juan D. Coronado and

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    About this ebook

    Mexican American Baseball in South Texas pays tribute to the former baseball teams and players from Edinburg, McAllen, Mission, Pharr, Donna, Alamo, San Juan, Brownsville, Harlingen, and other surrounding communities. From the late 19th century through the 1950s, baseball in South Texas provided opportunities for nurturing athletic and educational skills, reaffirming ethnic identity, promoting political self-determination, developing economic autonomy, and reshaping gender roles for women. Games were special times where Mexican Americans found refuge from backbreaking work and prejudice. These unmatched photographs and stories shed light on the rich history of baseball in this region of Texas.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateAug 1, 2016
    ISBN9781439657072
    Mexican American Baseball in South Texas
    Author

    Richard A. Santillan

    Author Richard A. Santillan, professor emeritus of ethnic and women studies at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and coauthors Mark A. Ocegueda, PhD student in history at the University of California, Irvine, and Terry A. Cannon, executive director of the Baseball Reliquary, serve as advisors to the Latino Baseball History Project in San Bernardino. The project and players� families provided the vintage photographs presented here.

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      Book preview

      Mexican American Baseball in South Texas - Richard A. Santillan

      Kempert.

      INTRODUCTION

      Sitting on the southernmost tip of Texas and bordering the state of Tamaulipas, México, is the Rio Grande Valley. Comprising the valley are Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, and Starr Counties, with Hidalgo and Cameron being more densely populated. At the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836, the region was disputed by both the Republic of Texas and Mexico. After military occupation, the Mexican-American War, and finally the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the territory officially became part of the United States. For the next several decades, South Texas had a strong military presence especially during and after the Civil War. Generally recognized as the last battle of the American Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch was fought east of Brownsville, Texas, between the Union army and the Confederate army.

      It was long believed that Gen. Abner Doubleday invented baseball during the Mexican-American War while he was stationed at Fort Brown in what has become the present-day city of Brownsville. Today, baseball historians and experts have come to the realization that the Doubleday theory is a myth, and that he did not invent the game. Whether baseball was introduced to South Texas during the Mexican-American War is debatable. Local historians and sportswriters Rene Torres and Pikey Rodríguez have spent countless hours researching and piecing together that lost history.

      The earliest written evidence that could be found of baseball in South Texas comes from an 1868 Christmas Day match between the Rio Grande Club of Brownsville and their neighboring team from across the river, Union Club de Matamoros. On a box score that reads more like the results of a football game, the Mexican squad defeated the Texans 49-32. The lineups that day included names such as García, Medrano, Cavazos, Evans, Mason, and Schreck. Interestingly, it was the Mexican club whose lineup included both Anglo and Spanish surnames.

      This would not be the last of these types of matchups. For the next hundred years, baseball expanded throughout the region, and baseball clubs from either side of the border traveled across the river for challenging outings that often turned into friendly rivalries. Hence, baseball in the Rio Grande Valley became one of the first social activities to bridge the cultural divide and temporarily blur ethnic barriers. The sport became, in many ways, a focal point and a fundamental component of the social fabric that influenced the development of South Texas. Baseball transcended physical and geographical borders that divided the two nations and two cultures. Yet, much like the evolution of the game itself, culture and society in South Texas uniquely developed as it fused into a bicultural Rio Grande Valley identity.

      1

      UPPER VALLEY

      Being primarily an agricultural region, the large majority of the Mexican American population in South Texas was historically employed as laborers in ranching, farming, or both. After long days of intense labor, young children, adolescents, and adults found time to partake in America’s pastime. At the time, baseball was the most popular sport in the country, and players from South Texas dreamed of making it to the Major Leagues. Few Mexican Americans played in the Major Leagues then; hence, the road to the top had its challenges. Whether they played ball in an actual ballpark or on an imaginary diamond laid out in the unscathed rural sector (or as many Mexican Americans say, "En el a labor"), South Texans played with passion—they played for the love of the game.

      By the 1950s, baseball grew tremendously in the Rio Grande Valley. Local ballparks were inundated with enthusiastic fans cheering for their favorite teams. Among the most loyal aficionados were family members and friends, who attended games from Little League all the way to the semiprofessional level

      The impact of the great Leonardo Leo Najo Alanis, who was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 1925, resounded not only in his hometown of Mission, Texas, but also in the surrounding communities of McAllen, Pharr, Edinburg, Donna, Weslaco, Harlingen, Brownsville, Mercedes, Edcouch-Elsa, Peñitas, Abram, and Los Ebanos. Semiprofessional baseball had a cult following, as Sunday matinees were regularly enjoyed and youngsters dreamed of one day representing their local teams. Others, of course, dreamed of following in Leo Najo’s footsteps, and they did, as a number of young men were offered Major League contracts.

      In Mission, Leo Najo, along with Bernardo Peña, José Carreon Garza, and other ballplayers, founded the Mission 30-30 Rifles; Edinburg had the Merchants, which then became the Joe Davis Ginners; McAllen had the Palms; the Merchants represented Pharr; the Donna Cardinals were very popular. The small communities outside of Mission also had teams, such as the Madero Valley Brickers and the Granjeno Lions. In Edinburg, Ramón Cantu, after serving in World War II, began to organize sandlot baseball. He recognized the tremendous talent that existed throughout the entire Rio Grande Valley and organized semiprofessional baseball. Cantu, along with others such as Pánfilo Ávila, Pete Lerma, Leo Najo, and Bernardo Peña, served as promoters of the sport in their respective communities.

      Edinburg ballplayer Jack Williams is seen introducing the coach’s son Rubén Ayala Jr. to some of his first baseball action. Rubén Ayala Sr. served the community in numerous capacities, including setting time aside to coaching baseball. Rubén Jr. would go on to play baseball in his hometown of Edinburg in high school for the Bobcats and at Pan American College for the Broncs. Jack Williams went on to participate in the 1962 Hidalgo County Colt League World Series championship team. (Courtesy of Gloria Guerra Ayala.)

      Semiprofessional baseball became extremely popular in the Rio Grande Valley. Baseball teams expanded throughout towns, as community after community wanted to showcase their talents. The McAllen Dons featured future Major Leaguer Ted Uhlaender and Major League prospect Camilo Estévis. Also playing for the Dons was football standout R.C. Fito Flores, who went on to play at the University of Colorado. This is a photograph of the McAllen Dons semiprofessional team around 1959–1960. Standing on the far left in the second row is Mike Maldonado, and standing next to him is Pancho Cavazos from Mission. Standing third and second from right are R.C. Flores and future Major Leaguer Ted Uhlaender. Kneeling second from left is Camilo Estévis, a future draftee of the Los Angeles Dodgers. This team was loaded with talent. (Courtesy of Vicente and Francisco

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