Ramos: California At Bat, exploring baseball’s past
From SABR member Jen Mac Ramos at The Hardball Times on October 22, 2018:
When you think of the history of baseball in California, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants moving west, or the original Pacific Coast League may come to mind. But there’s more to baseball in California than the past 60 years of major league baseball or the minor league PCL before that.
A temporary exhibit at the California Museum in Sacramento (running through December 30) seeks to expand our understanding of the sport, examining everything from when baseball came to the state during the Gold Rush to the present day. Upon entering the exhibit, you see a map of California with all the professional baseball teams pinpointed on the map, along with a brief history of each of the five major league teams franchises—the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres—but that doesn’t end up being the main focus of the exhibit.
Rather, between the introduction and an exploration of the teams in Northern California during the Gold Rush, the exhibit moves into the history of marginalized groups who played baseball before integration, namely Japanese Americans, Mexican Americans, and Black Americans.
Read the full article here: https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/california-at-bat-exploring-baseballs-past/
Originally published: October 26, 2018. Last Updated: October 26, 2018.