Mexican American Baseball in Houston and Southeast Texas

By Richard A. Santillan, Joseph Thompson, Mikaela Selley and 3 more

Mexican American Baseball in Houston and Southeast Texas pays tribute to the baseball and softball players and teams from Houston, Sugar Land, Texas City, Richmond, and other surrounding communities in the region. Since the early 1900s, this game has had an important role in the lives of area Mexican Americans. In the Houston barrios, when entrenched discriminatory practices obstructed city unity, the diamond brought people together. In the Sugar Land region, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and Anglos worked and played together, blurring racial lines. Baseball and softball built community pride and connected generations of Mexican American families. The wonderful stories and breathtaking images in this book help resurrect the rich and little-known history of Mexican American baseball and softball in this key part of Texas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jul 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781439661123

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.

Book preview

Kempert.

INTRODUCTION

Baseball was being played well before the Civil War in the Houston area. In The Houston Story, written in 1951 and based mainly on newspaper accounts and exhaustive research, Ed Bartholomew tells of youngsters playing various ball games such as mumbly-peg and camp ball going back to the second San Jacinto Celebration in 1838. In True Stories of Old Houston and Houstonians and A Thumb-Nail History of the City of Houston, Texas: From Its Founding in 1836 to the Year 1912, Dr. Samuel Oliver Young recalled playing town-ball games in the city during the 1850s and 1860s. Research into the history of baseball in the Houston region has grown significantly over the last few years as the community searched for the roots of the game in the Bayou City. With all the expanded research, however, a part of that rich history of baseball in the area remained hidden in the shadows. Mexican American Baseball in Houston and Southeast Texas hopes to shine a bright light on a forgotten chapter of the long history of baseball and softball in the region.

Houston’s first organized baseball club was founded on April 11, 1861, at a meeting held above J.H. Evans’s dry goods store in the Palmer Building at 315 Main Street. The players agreed to be on hand at five o’clock on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings for field exercise in Academy Square, which was a vacant field bounded by San Jacinto, Caroline, Capitol, and Rusk Streets, across Caroline Street from the Houston Academy. Even though a team was formed and practices were held, the outbreak of the Civil War soon made this first attempt at a ball club futile.

After the war, the people of Houston tried to resume their lives and one of the ways they did was through baseball. The Daily Telegraph published a column on a baseball game between the Houston Stonewalls and the Robert E. Lees of Galveston at the San Jacinto Battleground on April 21, 1868, to help celebrate San Jacinto Day. The Houston team, wearing uniforms of red caps, white flannel shirts, and black pants, boarded the steamboat Whitelaw on their way to their match with the Galveston club. The Houston club beat the Galveston team that day, 34-5.

Baseball spread quickly throughout the Texas Gulf Coast region over the next several decades. Businesses and promoters formed teams that played for pride and profit. Promoters found baseball matches profitable by inviting teams from other states and countries such as Mexico to come play against some of the best teams in the region. Ethnic and community pride filled ballfields as crowds gathered to cheer their favorite players and teams. A new regional baseball identity that transcended racial barriers and mores developed over the years as the culture and people of the Texas Gulf Coast evolved into a multi-cultural region.

Mexican American Baseball in Houston and Southeast Texas brings into focus a long and forgotten history of Mexican American influence on America’s national game. This book hopes to rekindle lost memories and ignite conversations for more research into the history of Mexican American baseball and softball in Houston and Southeast Texas. The communities, players, and teams featured in this short history represent only a piece of the large history of Mexican American baseball. It is the dream of our team of writers that the people who read this work will push for further research and more stories of Mexican American baseball in other communities throughout the Houston region.

1

HOUSTON

Unlike other Texas cities, Houston did not have a settled Mexican community until the late 19th century. The 1880 US Census reveals less than 10 people of Mexican origin living within the city limits. By 1910, the Mexican population numbered approximately 2,000. This growth ran parallel to the city’s own development into a metropolis. By the 1940s, the Mexican American community had established its own institutions and organizations and developed a bicultural identity. Sports teams and associations were an important part of this transformation. Baseball was a unifying force in the community, as Mexican-owned businesses supported teams that brought neighborhoods to watch games. Baseball also created opportunities for recognition of Mexican American athletes and inspired generations of Mexican American youth.

The story of Mexican American baseball in Houston is one of self-reliance. Mexican-owned businesses started their own sports clubs and tournaments and built their own stadiums. Houston archival materials and interviews with former baseball players reveal that Mexican Americans were playing the game as early as the 1920s. Teams were sponsored by Houstonians like Francisco Gabino Hernández, owner of Alamo Furniture Company, and Florencio Contreras, owner of the Blacksmith, Wheelright & Horseshoeing Company. Florencio’s interest in baseball would plant the seed for four generations of Contreras baseball players. The 1930s saw Félix Tijerina, successful restaurateur and Houston legend, sponsor the Mexican Inn baseball team. Named after his restaurant, this team played in the Houston Post Tournament in the 1930s. One article anticipated that hundreds of Mexican fans will be out rooting for Mexican Inn. By the 1940s, Félix Fraga created the Rusk Athletic Club and the annual Latin American State Tournament for men’s fast-pitch softball, still in existence today. The tournament was so popular that white players tried to get around the Latinos only rule by registering with fake Spanish surnames. Players were asked to provide birth certificates to prove their Latino heritage.

Baseball also addressed the community’s juvenile problems of the era, provided idols for Mexican American youth, and helped showcase Mexican American athletes. Mexican Americans formed committees to push for more park space and recreational facilities. Houstonian Frank Partida recalls his father starting a baseball team in the 1930s to prevent him from joining neighborhood gangs. Baseball also created role models for the community. Mexican American youth idolized the Southern Select Beer Company team. Third baseman Ramón Sustaita was a popular Houston ball player in the 1950s. The Houston Post described him as a stellar attraction and idol of Mexican fandom in these parts. The Southern Select played the 1940 Houston Post Tournament following an outstanding 14-2 season. Participation in city-wide tournaments, along with evidence that white players attempted to join Mexican American teams, shows how Mexican baseball affected Houstonians’ perception of this community. The early days of Mexican American baseball in Houston united a growing community and set the stage for future generations of ball