Al Ramos

Mexican American Baseball in the Santa Maria Valley Al Ramos

Mexican American Baseball in the Santa Maria Valley highlights the unforgettable and standout teams, players, coaches, and others who graced the hallowed fields inside this celebrated region of central California. Since the early 20th century, baseball and softball diamonds have nurtured generations of teams and players in Santa Maria, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Los Alamos, Orcutt, Susquoc, and other surrounding communities. More than a mere game, baseball and softball were political instruments and critical prisms to better understand community history; the struggle for social, educational, and cultural equality; the untold contributions of women; the critical role and countless influences of documented and undocumented immigration; the numberless contributions of labor movements, especially among farm workers; economic autonomy; political self-determination; military and home front sacrifices; and an unmatched love for sports. In their own intransigent ways, softball and baseball confronted head-on uncompromising discrimination and the reactionary forces of xenophobia, promoting, instead, the unbroken spirit for human rights. These breathtaking photographs and heartfelt stories shed unparallel light to the elongated and elaborate history of ball in the Santa Maria Valley, challenging the often-neglected historical narrative of Mexican American baseball whose roots date back to at least 1870 in the United States. The amazing study of baseball and softball in any particular geographical area must be linked to other community, regional, state, and national networks. A magnifying glass approach clearly shows that baseball and softball have helped overlapped countless community teams that crisscrossed city limits, county borders and state boundaries. These local teams, due mainly to intercommunity marriages and cross-town military friendships, eventually established family networks, giving commencement to political and labor associations. In keeping with this well-established pledge, this book also includes two chapters on Ventura County and the South Bay, countless California communities, and over one hundred photos from several states outside California. The final chapter is entitled Field of Dreams (Campo de Suenos) highlighting the 9th inning (hopefully extra innings) of players, coaches, and their extended families being honored and paid tribute today for their remarkable legacies. Que Viva El Beisbol y Sofbol!