South of the Color Barrier

The late John Virtue was director of the International Media Center at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. He lived in Miami Beach.

• Table of ContentsForeword by Monte Irvin      Preface      Introduction      1. Not a Stereotypical Mexican      2. Baseballs and Bullets      3. Blacks Are Barred from Baseball      4. Cuba’s Baseball Pioneers      5. Negro Leaguers Face Discrimination      6. Cracks in the Color Barrier      7. A Dictator Raids the Negro Leagues      8. Satchel Paige Heads South      9. Negro Leaguers Are Courted      10. Pasquel Forms Team, Wins Title      11. Red Carpet for Black Players      12. Negro Leagues React to the Mexican Threat      13. World War II      14. Majors Lose Fans, Negro Leagues Gain      15. Latino Major Leaguers Jump      16. The Pressure to Integrate Baseball      17. Pasquel Raids the Majors      18. Pasquel Courts White Stars      19. Stephens Bolts, Owen Stays      20. Name-Calling      21. Fisticuffs on the Field      22. The Reserve Clause Is Challenged      23. Black Versus White      24. Robinson Integrates Organized Baseball      25. Mexican Leaguers Go to the Majors      26. The Mexican League Faces a Crisis      27. The Commissioner Lifts the Ban       28. Pasquel Quits Baseball      Epilogue      Appendix: Known Negro League Players in Mexico, 1937–1946      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index

“John Virtue has more in mind than baseball. He sets the story of [Jorge] Pasquel’s work as a promoter, businessman, hustler, and champion of equal rights against the background of the historical relationship between Pasquel’s native land and the colossus to the north, a relationship that Porfirio Diaz, for 35 years the president of Mexico, once summarized by opining ‘Poor Mexico. We are so far away from God and so close to the United States.’”—Boston Sunday Globe; “engaging and inspiring story”—La Prensa del Beisbol Latino.