Existing comment:
Buck Leonard
In the first half of the 1900s, more than 240 Latinos played in the Negro Leagues because Jim Crow segregation blocked them from Major League Baseball. Players learned that talent alone did not result in acceptance. Latin American leagues also presented opportunities for African Americans and Latinos when Major League Baseball did not.
Buck Leonard played baseball year-round, especially as he ended his career. He participated in the winter leagues in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Venezuela between 1935 and 1955, and in the Mexican League from 1951 through 1955.
Buck Leonard playing for Negro Leagues team the Homestead Grays, Washington, D.C., 1940s
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution |