LOS ANGELES — Every year, baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Few people know that, a year earlier, a professional baseball league in Mexico was already integrated by Jorge Pasquel.
LA Times Kevin Baxter wrote about the push to get Pasquel into the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame. Baxter joined Kelvin Washington on LA Times Today with more.
Pasquel grew up in the diverse community of Veracruz, Mexico, in the 1910s. He became the president of the Mexican League in the 1940s.
“He used that club first to bring in a lot of Negro League players. And then in 1946, he started bringing in white major leaguers. Negro League players played in Cuba, Puerto Rico and other places in Latin America. But Mexico was the first place where we had legitimate Major League stars playing in Mexico with Black players. There were Black managers that were telling white players what to do. That was unheard of in the States. And Major League Baseball was threatened by that, because if this worked in Mexico, people would ask, why can’t it work in the United States?” Baxter said.
While he was president of the league, Pasquel strictly enforced rules prohibiting tobacco, alcohol and discrimination. Part of what drew players to Pasquel’s Mexican League was the lavish lifestyle he offered them.
His innovative leadership style is one reason advocates say Pasquel belongs in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baxter spoke about the odds of that happening.
“He’s certainly had an impact on the game that lives on today. The problem is because of his memory spending on these players, his impact only lasted about two years, 1946 to 1948. That was when he was at his prime. Two years is really not enough to get you elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He would stand for enshrinement in a category that includes former managers, former executives of movers and shakers in the game going back over 100 years. It’s just a very high bar to get over,” Baxter said.
Watch the full interview above.
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