CWU to celebrate Latino baseball players with new exhibit

The Museum of Culture and Environment at Central Washington University is proud to host an upcoming exhibition highlighting the stories of some of the first Latino players in American baseball.

Opening this week, “Beisboleros: The Early History of Latino Baseball Players in the United States 1868-1930” highlights the work of CWU Associate Professor of Political Science Gilberto Garcia, who researched and curated the exhibit.

Garcia has long been fascinated by the stories of the players who paved the way toward true inclusion in the sport.

“It illustrates issues of culture, race, and the economics of baseball,” said Garcia, who will host a Curator’s Talk at the grand opening of the exhibit on Wednesday, April 8, at 5:30 p.m. in the first floor lobby of Dean Hall. “I examine what I call the ‘folkloric-exotic’ experience of Latino baseball players.”

Garcia explained that his research has often led him to examine the origins of Latinos in American baseball, through published works such as “Louis ‘Count’ Castro: The Story of a Forgotten Major Leaguer,” published in Nine: A Journal of Baseball and Culture, and “Beisboleros: Latin Americans and Baseball in the Pacific Northwest, 1914-1937” in Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History.

Garcia’s work explores the challenges faced by the players, as well as the business decisions that led to their inclusion.

“It explores the racism in baseball and how it affected this group differently,” he said. “In the end, it was a business and the baseball owners wanted to sell tickets.”

Free baseball-themed refreshments will be available at Wednesday’s reception. This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies.

“Beisboleros” will be on display through June 13 and from September 23-December 4 at the Museum of Culture and Environment, which is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.