{"id":9864,"date":"2024-10-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/?p=9864"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:22:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:22:41","slug":"national-hispanic-heritage-month-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/national-hispanic-heritage-month-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"National Hispanic Heritage Month 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We join the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in celebrating <\/em>National Hispanic Heritage Month<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading Beisbol: Semanario<\/em> Especializado<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Greg Bond, Sports Archivist and Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection<\/em><\/a> and Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Latin American & Iberian Studies Librarian and Curator<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Todas las competencias deportivas, no solamente las internacionales o las interestatales, sino tambi\u00e9n las interpoblaciones, deben servir para estrechar los lazos de amistad y nunca para distanciar a los pobladores o fan\u00e1ticos.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll sporting competitions, not only international or interstate ones, but also local ones, should serve to strengthen the bonds of friendship and never to distance the residents or fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The September 3, 1953, issue (page 1) of the Mexico City-based magazine Beisbol: Semanario Especializado<\/em> (Baseball: Weekly Special<\/em>) published this article lamenting the increasingly bitter and antagonistic rivalries between baseball teams and spectators in Mexico. The editors encouraged their readers to find common ground through sports and urged fans to temper their intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The magazine did acknowledge the centrality of fan participation during baseball games, but it urged moderation in cheering:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cUn encuentro de beisbol sin gritos ni alaridos, es como una cerveza sin espuma; \u00e9sta es indispensable para que la cerveza se apetezca\u2026 pero tampoco gustar\u00e1 usted de tomarse una cerveza que sea pura espuma.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cA baseball game without shouts and screams is like a beer without foam; the foam is essential for the beer to be appetizing\u2026 but you would not like to drink a beer that is pure foam.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The editors concluded dramatically: \u201c… despu\u00e9s de un encuentro beisbolero, cuando se haya disipado el olor de la p\u00f3lvora, los contrincantes deben darse la mano y seguir siendo amigos.\u201d (\u201c…after a baseball game, when the smell of gunpowder has dissipated, the opponents must shake hands and continue being friends.<\/em>\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Baseball fans, including a man wearing a mask and holding a flag, watch the \u201cCoastal Classic\u201d between teams from Mazatl\u00e1n and Culiac\u00e1n, two cities in the state of Sinaloa, on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Source: Beisbol<\/em> January 14, 1954, page 17.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rare Books and Special Collections recently acquired nine issues of Beisbol: Semanario Especializado<\/a><\/em> dating from 1953 and 1954. Beisbol, <\/em>edited by Salvador Mondrag\u00f3n, a prominent Mexican baseball administrator and booster, was published from about 1946-1957. Mondrag\u00f3n was involved for many years with running the country\u2019s professional leagues, as well as organizing Mexico\u2019s amateur teams for international competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beisbol <\/em>covered all aspects of the sport. Many issues focused on the professional Mexican Leagues in both the summer and winter seasons. But the magazine also covered other subjects of interest to Mexican baseball fans, including semi-pro and amateur baseball, Mexican and Latin American players who competed in other leagues, news from the American major leagues, foreign teams that visited Mexico, historical baseball stories, and many other topics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small sampling of articles from the profusely illustrated magazine gives a good sense of the range of subjects covered in Beisbol<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The November 12, 1953, issue (pages 8-9 and 18-19), for instance, provided in-depth coverage of the recent visit of Jackie Robinson\u2019s Stars, a barnstorming club of American major leaguers, minor leaguers, and Negro Leaguers led by the Dodgers\u2019 Jackie Robinson and Cleveland Indians outfielder Luke Easter. The magazine featured a two-page spread of photos of the American players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The magazine printed a two-page article \u201cEl Parque \u2018Carta Clara\u2019 Recibe Maquillaje\u201d (\u201cThe Park \u2018Carta Clara\u2019 Receives a Makeover\u201d) in its September 3, 1953 (pages 28-29), issue about renovations at Carta Clara Park in M\u00e9rida. The author of the article extensively interviewed the field manager\/groundskeeper, Carlos \u201cLicho\u201d Ponce, about the changes and improvements being made to the stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beisbol also routinely featured a small \u201cSecci\u00f3n de Softbol\u201d (\u201cSoftball Section<\/em>\u201d). The coverage usually focused on men\u2019s softball, but the April 8, 1954, issue included a lengthy story about a new amateur women\u2019s softball league (that was sponsored, in part, by the Hip\u00f3dromo de las Am\u00e9ricas, a prominent Mexico City horse racing track). According to Beisbol,<\/em> the organizers of the Asociaci\u00f3n Femenil de Softbol (Women\u2019s Softball Association<\/em>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c\u2026 han realizado una magn\u00edfica labor, llena de penalidades, para organizar este campeonato en la cual se han abierto los brazos a las jovencitas que tuviesen deseos de jugar a la pelota y no contasen con elemento para hacerlo\u2026\u201d (page 30).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c…have done a magnificent job, full of hardships, to organize this championship in which they have opened their arms to the young girls who had wanted to play ball and did not have the resources to do it\u2026<\/em>\u201d (page 30).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The issue featured numerous photographs (pages 32-34) of opening day and action from the first games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Each issue of Beisbol: Semanario Especializado<\/em> featured remarkable full-color cover illustrations drawn by artist Guillermo Ley. Ley\u2019s eye-catching images humorously commented on important current events in Mexican baseball. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The August 20, 1953, cover illustration, for example, depicted the in-season travels of Cuban pitcher Arist\u00f3nico Correoso. Correoso had been released by two teams in La Liga Mexicana (Mexican League<\/em>) during the 1953 season before signing with Tuneros de San Luis in La Liga Central (Central League<\/em>) and leading his new team to the top of the standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cover of September 24, 1953, editorialized about outfielder Humberto Barb\u00f3n\u2019s recent decision to leave the Campeche Pirates of la Liga Peninsular de Yucatan (the Yucatan Peninsular League<\/em>) to play for a team in Havana, Cuba. The illustration shows \u201cel tesoro de los piratas\u201d (\u201cthe treasure of the pirates<\/em>\u201d) waving goodbye and departing Mexico in a boat rowed by the manager of the Havana team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ley\u2019s intricate and attractive illustrations and caricatures commented on many different topics of the day and likely helped to draw readers\u2019 attention to the magazine. On November 12, 1953, his cover illustrated the race between the six teams of the Veracruz Winter league vying for the championship, and on April 6, 1954, Ley\u2019s cover showed underdog Venezuela bursting the Mexican team\u2019s balloon by winning the baseball gold medal at the 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beisbol: Semanario Especializado<\/a><\/em> is an important source documenting the post-World War Two history of baseball in Mexico and throughout Spanish-speaking Latin America. These scarce issues\u2014Worldcat finds only one other institution with any holdings of Beisbol<\/em>\u2014are open and available to researchers in Rare Books and Special Collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Previous Hispanic Heritage Month Blog Posts:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n