FOREWORD

An ace pitcher for Jimmy John Lumber, a young Matt García had no inkling of the rich mound of history on which he stood. Years later, as a doctoral student, García began to uncover the legacies of family members and their neighbors in the making of the Greater Pomona Valley. His 2001 book World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900–1970 broke new ground by emphasizing the experiences of Mexican Americans not as faceless workers or members of isolated communities but as individuals with hopes and dreams, who in the course of their day interacted with European Americans and African Americans. Focusing primarily on the decades between 1920 and 1960, Matt García captured moments of tension between Mexican American men and braceros in Claremont’s Arbol Verde barrio to moments of collaboration between African American and Latino musicians who played at the popular integrated dance hall, the aptly named Rainbow Gardens. Conveying the texture of human emotion, he offers a sense of people in motion and of the communities in which they lived. The pride Professor García takes in his local roots resonates in the memories and photographs beautifully assembled in the pages that follow.

Scholars have taken notice of the Latino love affair with baseball, and I refer readers to two engaging works on the topic: Adrian Burgos’s Playing American’s Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line, and Samuel Regalado’s Latin Major Leaguers and Their Special Hunger. Moreover, José Alamillo’s Making Lemonade out of Lemons: Mexican American Labor and Leisure in a California Town, 1880–1960 underscores the importance of baseball not only to community rhythms and cultural identity but also to political empowerment. With a wider public in mind, the Arcadia Publishing book series provides stunning visual testimonies that, taken together, reveal baseball’s impact on the daily lives of Mexican Americans in Southern California. For youth, Little League instilled leadership and team building, and for adult players, many found jobs, met their future spouses, and at times organized for civil rights. For almost a century in Southern California, Mexican American men and women have rounded the bases, cheered from the stands, and made vibrant, enduring communities that span generations.

—Vicki L. Ruiz
Distinguished Professor of History and Chicano Latino Studies
University of California Irvine