They Let Us Play in Mexico

Many people do not realize that Mexico's baseball league was faster to integrate than the Major Leagues. Mexico was a place where black players would be able to play side-by-side with white players before they could do it in America. From 1937 to 1946, there were more than 150 US born Black players in Mexico playing professional ball in a league which was arguably as strong as the MLB at the time. Fourteen of those players have been elected to the Hall of Fame, including Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson who are among the greatest baseball players of the pre-integration era. Monte Irvin was another one of the Black stars to appear in Mexico, "it was the first time in my life that I felt free. We could go anywhere we wanted, eat anywhere we wanted, do anything we wanted and not have to worry about anything." This was in stark contrast to the experiences of players like Wilmer Aaron and Terry Whitfield in the US decades later.

The man who made this all possible was Jorge Pasquel, who according to Monte Irvin, was the George Steinbrenner of Mexico. He was the owner of the biggest import-export business in the country. Rich, handsome, and fierce, Pasquel knew no limits. His larger-than-life persona included dating Mexico's biggest movie star at the time, María Felix. He brought glamour to the baseball diamond at the same time that he angled for popularity as politician. Officially, Jorge Pasquel entered to the Mexican Baseball League in 1940 as the owner of a new team, the Azules de Veracruz. But before that, he was the main sponsor of the league, signing and paying black stars to play for all the league's teams.

With his connections and wallet, Pasquel recommended a black Cuban super star to the Aguila baseball club, also in Veracruz in 1937. Martin Dihigo carried the team to the championship in 1937 and 1938. The Mexico City Agrario team, archrival to the Aguila club, countered by signing Satchel Paige, the greatest black American pitcher of the time, who in 1938 became the first African American to play in the Mexican League. By 1940, there were 63 African-American players in Mexico - a Mexican 'Field of Dreams.' Pasquel built it, and they came. His master plan was to have major league caliber baseball in Mexico during the summer season. To do this, he strengthened his relationship with the Cuban League, which played in the winter, to guarantee that his stars could work all year long.

The 1940s in Mexico saw stars like Martin Dihigo, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Ray Dandridge, Wild Bill Wright and Willie Wells playing in the Mexican league when in America they would have been relegated to a segregated league. Players were able to excel in Mexico because they were treated like human beings and not like second class citizens. Most teams had several black players too, so each black player in Mexico was not just a token for his team, he was just one of the guys and it was clearly not an issue for any one of their teammates.

FOR MORE ON THE MEXICAN LEAGUE'S IMPACT ON BLACK BASEBALL IN AMERICA, LOOK FOR THE SECTION IN MY UPCOMING BOOK: "YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE:  STORIES OF DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSIONARY PRACTICES IN BASEBALL"