Viva Baseball!: Latin Major Leaguers and Their Special Hunger

Sport and Society

by Samuel O. Regalado

Lively and filled with vivid anecdotes,  Viva Baseball!  chronicles the struggles of Latin American professional baseball players in the United States from the late 1800s to the present.  As Latino players, managers, and owners continue to blossom into baseball's biggest stars, they have benefited from a growing Spanish-language media, a group identity, an increase in financial leverage and attention, and a burgeoning Latino culture in the United States. Although there have been several positive developments in the treatment of Latin American players, many, such as Albert Pujols, Pedro Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, and Ozzie Guillen, still face shocking racism. Samuel O. Regalado draws upon archives and rich interviews with Latin baseball stars like Felipe Alou, Orlando Cepeda, and Minnie Minoso to show the changing tenor of discrimination in the twenty-first-century game.

Genres: Baseball

264 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1998

Reviews

[Gemini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was such an eye opener for me. I had no idea that there was such a struggle for latinos to come to the US to play baseball. Although I should have known considering this is typical of this country to take advantage of those not from this country. You always here the references to Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier but something most people don't realize is that when you have latin players there is a language barrier as well. Since latin players can pass for white or be black or any color in between the level of racism they experienced is different, almost worse. They were taken advantage of due to their lack of cultural knowledge of America as well as not speaking English. But on top of that they weren't given any help either to help them succeed which made matters worse. How did they know what they were signing if they didn't read English? The barriers they endured was a constant battle decade after decade. If you were stuck in the minor leagues then chances were you ended being in the middle of some podunk town not being able to acclimate at all. You don't have your language, your people, your food or your culture anymore, all because you wanted to pursue playing baseball. This book really sheds light on the players from Orlando Cepeda to Rod Carew & many who came after to explain how things really transpired for them. I never knew all that they went through & was really glad to have read this book to be able to understand. Just read it even if you're not a baseball fan.

[RA · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant addition to the history of racial "politics" in the United States. This is a detailed history of Latin American baseball players, historically, socially, politically, how they existed in the Manifest Destiny Western Hemisphere, traversing the 3rd World to "enjoy the fruits of their labor" in segregated and racist conditions, in order to succeed at the highest professional levels of the sport.

This book contains a wealth of ideas, facts, anecdotes, stories, and interviews about the lives of a variety of Latin American ballplayers post-Jackie-Robinson to a certain degree. Truly eye-opening about the background for Hispanic baseball players.