It’s baseball season, and if you love the game and San Pedro history, I have the perfect summer read for you.
Mexican American Baseball in the South Bay, published this year by the Latino Baseball History Project ($25 on Amazon), is the latest in a series of books about how Mexican Americans around the state embraced America’s pastime from its earliest days. But you don’t have to be Mexican American to appreciate the wealth of information presented in this hefty 464-page paperback.
Retired professor Richard A. Santillan is editor, and San Pedro native Ron Gonzales (Fermin Lasuen, 1971) is co-editor. Gonzales, retired after a 38-year career as a newspaper reporter and editor, is the author of the book’s first and lengthiest chapter on his hometown. Other chapters focus on Catalina Island, Wilmington, Redondo Beach, Torrance, and Cal State University, Dominguez Hills.
The cover of “Mexican American Baseball in the South Bay” featuring Raul “Bumble” Gonzalez, circa 1949.
This book might have been more accurately titled An Illustrated History of Mexican American Baseball in the South Bay because that is the format it follows. Each chapter opens with a summary, but most of the text consists of lengthy captions for hundreds of photos and illustrations that, besides the sports angle, tell a bigger story of the Latino influence on the local culture. As the introduction states, “This pioneering publication provides a greater comprehensive depiction and wealthier narrative of the outsize and regular community life to parallel the incredible amount of Mexican American baseball and softball tales in the South Bay over one hundred years.”
Gonzales’ chapter introduction is a concise short history of San Pedro, hitting all the main points and key figures starting with Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542 while seamlessly integrating the Mexican American perspective. As far back as 1933, News-Pilot editor Bynner Martin wrote, “Baseball is known as the national pastime, but its most ardent devotees here are the Mexican people.” From there, Gonzales has no trouble explaining how “the town that locals call ‘Pedro’ became a baseball town.”
Dozens of families and hundreds of individuals are recognized in the following pages, many beyond their impact on the sports world. That includes tributes to Luther Ruiz, Roger Gonzales, and Benjamin Bugarin, who gave their lives in service to their country in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, respectively.
Considering the book’s focus, it’s no surprise that the two areas of San Pedro most associated with Mexican Americans crop up repeatedly: La Rambla and Barton Hill. Bob Moulton is given due recognition as founder of the Barton Hill Cougars in the `40s and, returning from the war, for his decades mentoring some of San Pedro’s finest athletes. Another coaching legend featured is La Rambla native Ray Martinez, longtime director of the Boys Club.
Receiving long-overdue recognition is Frank “Snuffy” Machado, a popular baseball and softball player in the `40s, `50s, and `60s and coach at Mary Star High School before Fermin Lasuen opened. Three more pages are dedicated to the legendary Joseph “Lou” Medina, and Filipino great Bobby Balcena is well-remembered.
Among many other players getting write-ups are Fermin Lasuen star Jim Lopez and San Pedro High standout Nick Castenada; there’s even a nice piece on a non-athlete, Xavier Hermosillo, who was hired as sports editor of the News-Pilot right out of San Pedro High and has been a mainstay of the Pirate Boosters.
Of course, no book on Mexican Americans and baseball would be complete without mention of two of San Pedro’s most successful products, Andy Lopez and Albert “Lefty” Olguin. Lopez was a star player at San Pedro High, Harbor College, and UCLA before beginning a coaching career that included College World Series titles with Pepperdine and Arizona. Olguin was a star pitcher for the Pirates and Harbor College before beginning his coaching career that included a state title at Harbor College while assisting Jim O’Brien. Author of his own San Pedro sports memoir, Once a Pirate Always a Pirate, Olguin also wrote a foreword to this book.
Not to be outdone, the San Pedro chapter is replete with photos of the Mexican American women who made their marks on the softball diamond and beyond. The three most notable here are Victoria Brucker Ruelas, who gained national attention in 1989 when she became the first American girl to reach the Little League World Series with San Pedro’s Eastview team; Ashley Esparza, who led the Pirates to four consecutive City softball titles and was City Player of the Year three consecutive years; and Sarah Gascon, a multi-sport standout at Mary Star who went on to star for the USA Baseball Women’s National Team and USA Team Handball’s Women’s National Team. (Gascon and Olguin happen to be cousins, but then this entire book is full of cousins.)
Anybody who has ever played baseball or softball in San Pedro, Mexican American or not, will want to get a copy of this book, if just to see if they’re included in one of the dozens of team pictures — Little League, high school, semipro, minor league — that span 110 years, from the 1911 Pirates featuring Louis Sepulveda to the 2021 City champion Pirates. And the authors are asking for help in identifying players for future editions.
One small quibble is the lack of an index, but perhaps the editors felt that it might have been more confusing than helpful with a book full of Gonzaleses and Gonzalezes.
There is no confusion regarding the importance of baseball to Latinos. The contributions of San Pedro’s Mexican Americans in sports have been well-documented over time, but this comprehensive treatment of their baseball history hits it out of the park. spt
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