Exhibit. Mexican immigrants formed baseball teams to continue the tradition of communal ball games. Pictured: Union Cultural Mejicana Wildcats team photo, circa 1949. Photo courtesy of Gene T. Chavez. Submitted Photo

By Paul Thompson
Northeast News
April 20, 2016

The Kansas City Museum announced on Thursday, April 14 that it will be partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on a multi-year collecting initiative, entitled “Latinos and Baseball: In the Barrios and the Big Leagues.”

The Kansas City Museum joins organizations based in California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Colorado, and Wyoming in this national partnership.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the national conversation on Latinos and baseball, and I feel particularly proud to know that we made that connection because we started this local conversation, and we told this local untold story,” said Kansas City Museum Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera. “That led to this type of national partnership, and I think it points to the power of inspiring local conversations.”

Representatives from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will be in Kansas City specifically for the collecting events, which are scheduled for Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13, 2016. The events will also include the second annual “Los Sabios” invitational memorial game, to be played at Penn Valley Park’s Waxie Hernandez Field on August 13 from 10:00 a.m. to noon.

Tutera credited the work of curator Dr. Gene T. Chavez for making the partnership possible. Chavez curated the exhibit ‘Mexican American Fast Pitch Softball Leagues: Connecting Communities Across State Lines’ for the museum in 2015, which eventually caught the attention of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

“He came to me and said, ‘I’m working on this oral history project, and I think that we could do an exhibition at the museum,'” said Tutera. “We jumped on it. He curated another exhibition here a couple of years ago, and the quality of his work is incredible.”

Chavez earned a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council to complete the oral history, which focused on the untold stories of Mexican American softball players and the camaraderie that was built in the Kansas City community through the sport.

“I learned that there was a great passion for the game. In the larger context, it’s part of the heritage throughout Latin America,” said Chavez. “They did barnstorming; they would go from town to town and play other Mexican teams. Some of the teams from Kansas City would even play scrimmages with the Kansas City Monarchs.”