Latino Exhibit Unveiled at the HOF

Viva Beisbol!

Last August I took a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. We at Mop Up Duty (okay, maybe just me) have a great affinity for Latino baseball (especially the way it influenced the Toronto Blue Jays teams of the 80’s). Above, you can see I drunkenly took a picture of the picture advertising the opening of the Latino exhibit in the spring of 2009. Guess what! Spring 2009 is here and it is open! Yippie!

Mexican Baseball

Latino baseball is sorely underrepresented at the Hall of Fame. Out of 289 Hall of Fame players, only 7 are Latino. From the 600 HOF voters of the BBWAA, only 20 have Latino heritage. These numbers don’t jive with the number of Latino players in the majors today and is misrepresentative of the indellible mark left on baseball from the Latino influence.

Hall of Fame Curator John Odell had this to say about the new permanent exhibit, ¡Viva Baseball!:

“Exhibits at the Hall are never designed with generating audience as an objective. As a history museum that chronicles the many stories that baseball touches upon, we evaluate our exhibit needs based on trends, achievements, and cultural contributions to the game … Certainly the opening of ¡Viva Baseball! could not have been more perfectly timed than right now. The rise of the Latino star is not a new story but today’s collection of Latin players at the Major League levels has never been greater.”

I for one can’t wait to see the new exhibit. We have a popular article on Mop Up Duty about the Havana Cuba Sugar Kings, and pictured below is a game worn jersey from the Havana team.
Havana Cuba Baseball

There are even scouting reports on some Latino players, such as the Houston Astros’ view of Johan Santana, who had just started pitching 6 weeks prior. (Scouting report pictured below)

Johan Santana Scouting Report