Fort Worth’s Liga Del Norte: Latino Baseball Gem

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

I found this story following a small trail down some Latino sports photo links. All it said was Hispanic baseball league. So of course I clicked.

The link took me to a slide show: 18 wonderful pictures of what could have been a Sunday afternoon at any quintessential American baseball park. A few keyboard entries later, I found the story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Liga del Norte is a hidden gem on Fort Worth’s North Side.

Rogers Hornsby began his Hall of Fame career on the fields of the amateur leagues of Fort Worth’s North Side.

The players of the Liga del Norte are the heirs to “The Rajah” and a hidden gem in the history of baseball in the city.

Its fields at the newly renovated Rockwood Park are where men and some boys come not only to play but to live, the reward for waging resolutely against the drudgery and extended struggles of Monday through Friday.

It is where the Hispanic culture and sliders converge.

Of course it does. That’s what drew me into the pictures. There was something familiar there, something that spoke to me about my own life, about growing up in the shadow of the Parque La Junta, the stadium where the Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo played. I used to sneak in with the rest of my neighborhood urchin gang to watch the games. There’s that, and so much more…

“There’s good baseball here,” said Juan Martinez, the league’s president and son of the founder. “I’d put these guys against anybody in Fort Worth.”

It’s a good story, and really great pictures. Check out the slide show HERE.

 

 

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