The Latino Baseball History Project (LBHP) documents the history of Latino/a/x baseball and softball in the United States with an emphasis on Mexican American baseball in Southern California. The LBHP started in 2004 as a collaborative effort between the Baseball Reliquary and California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) under the title “Mexican-American Baseball in Los Angeles: From the Barrios to the Big Leagues.” Mr. Terry Cannon, Director of the Baseball Reliquary and former Acting Dean of the John F. Kennedy Library at CSULA, Cesar Caballero, served as the original founders of the project.
The initial idea was to host a library exhibit at CSULA, however there were no collections to exhibit so a call was made for the public to contribute exhibit materials such as photographs and artifacts. The response from the community was very positive and an exhibit featuring more than nine cases of materials was prepared. The project was transferred to California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) when Cesar Cabellero was named their Dean of the Libraries. The LBHP has continued collecting materials over the years and published several books on Latino/a/x history under the leadership of Dr. Richard Santillan, Professor Emeritus from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he has served as the editor and main historian. To date, over 100 players and historians have contributed to the published books.
The images featured in this online exhibit are selected from the Latino Baseball History Project collection, which is housed in the CSUSB Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives.
Questions? Email us at archives@csusb.edu.