Playing America's game : baseball, Latinos, and the color line / Adrian Burgos, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burgos, Adrian, Jr., 1969-

Series:

American crossroads ; 23.

American crossroads ; 23

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hispanic American baseball players--History.

Hispanic American baseball players.

Baseball--United States--History.

Baseball.

Racism in sports.

History.

United States.

Racism in sports--United States--History.

United States--Race relations.

Race relations.

Physical Description:

xx, 362 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2007]

Summary:

Although largely ignored by historians of both baseball in general and the Negro leagues in particular, Latinos have been a significant presence in organized baseball from the beginning. In this benchmark study on Latinos and professional baseball from the 1880s to the present, Adrian Burgos Jr. tells 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. Burgos draws on archival materials from the U.S., Cuba, and Puerto Rico, as well as Spanish- and English-language publications and interviews with Negro league and major league players. He demonstrates how the manipulation of racial distinctions that allowed management to recruit and sign Latino players provided a template for Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey when he initiated the dismantling of the color line by signing Jackie Robinson in 1947. Burgos's extensive examination of Latino participation before and after Robinson's debut documents the ways in which inclusion did not signify equality and shows how notions of racialized difference have persisted for darker-skinned Latinos like Orestes ("Minnie") Minoso, Roberto Clemente, and Sammy Sosa.

Contents:

Introduction: Latinos play America's game

A national game emerges

Early maneuvers

Holding the line

Baseball should follow the flag

"Purest bars of Castilian soap"

Making Cuban stars

Becoming Cuban senators

Playing in the world Jim Crow made

Latinos and baseball's integration

Troubling the waters

Latinos and baseball's global turn

Saying it is So-sa!

Conclusion: Still playing America's game.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-344) and index.

ISBN:

9780520236462

0520236467

9780520251434

0520251431

OCLC:

81150202