South of the Color Barrier: How Jorge Pasquel and the Mexican League Pushed Baseball Toward Racial Integration » (New Edition)

John Virtue is director of the International Media Center at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. He lives in Miami Beach.

This book tells the story of how Mexican multimillionaire businessman Jorge Pasquel and the Mexican League hastened the integration of major league baseball. During the decade that preceded Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier, almost 150 players from the Negro League played in Mexico, most of them recruited by Pasquel.

Foreword   Monte Irvin     1
Preface     5
Introduction     7
Not a Stereotypical Mexican     15
Baseballs and Bullets     23
Blacks Are Barred from Baseball     30
Cuba's Baseball Pioneers     37
Negro Leaguers Face Discrimination     43
Cracks in the Color Barrier     48
A Dictator Raids the Negro Leagues     56
Satchel Paige Heads South     60
Negro Leaguers Are Courted     69
Pasquel Forms Team, Wins Title     74
Red Carpet for Black Players     86
Negro Leagues React to the Mexican Threat     94
World War II     100
Majors Lose Fans, Negro Leagues Gain     110
Latino Major Leaguers Jump     115
The Pressure to Integrate Baseball     120
Pasquel Raids the Majors     125
Pasquel Courts White Stars     130
Stephens Bolts, Owen Stays     135
Name-Calling     141
Fisticuffs on the Field     148
The Reserve Clause Is Challenged     155
Black Versus White     162
Robinson Integrates Organized Baseball     169
Mexican Leaguers Go tothe Majors     177
The Mexican League Faces a Crisis     183
The Commissioner Lifts the Ban     188
Pasquel Quits Baseball     193
Epilogue     200
Known Negro League Players in Mexico, 1937-1946     205
Chapter Notes     207
Bibliography     217
Index     223