Show I Barrio hits into history I David Wharton Los Angeles Times On Sunday mornings during baseball season only ghosts ramble around an empty diamond in East LA There is a puddle by second base and kids playing soccer down the foul line Hard to imagine how it used to be back in hi the when baseball at Evergreen Park was a social event vent Heights district Fans came by the hundreds sometimes thousands for the Carmelita the New York Yankees of LA barrio baseball In the years after World War II the ruled over a loose affiliation of Hispanic amateur and semi-professional semi teams that played every weekend throughout through through- out Southern California and across the border border border bor bor- der into Mexico I mean we had some players recalls Armando Perez who joined the after ter three seasons of minor league baseball baseball baseball base base- ball in the Baltimore Orioles tion This TItis was our existence Fifty years later as this city roils with demonstrations over proposed immigration changes the legacy of the is entwined with the story of the Hispanic community There was a lot of prejudice in those days says Frank Lopez the owners owner's son This was a way to do something Something for us Old photographs of Mario Lopez Sr show a fit man with black hair an avid ballplayer growing up in Chihuahua Mexico who immigrated to the United States in the At the time despite an influx of Mexicans to Southern California few grocery stores carried ethnic foods You find chorizo anywhere recalls Saul T Toledo ledo a friend of the Lopez family So Mario started making that and pickled pigs feet and chicharrones fried pork rinds The original factory on Carmelita Avenue turned a profit with pork sausage sausage- chorizo the kind often crumbled into eggs for breakfast and Lopez became known for his generosity This trait extended extend extend- ed to the baseball club he organized The the chorizo makers had uniforms with the team name stitched across their chests ball caps and jackets Lopez brought chorizo to give giveaway giveaway giveaway away in the bleachers and afterward picked up the tab for tacos and cerveza Oh wed run up a big bill says Rich Pena one of nine brothers who for many years formed the core of the Carmelita ros ros- ter It was nothing but first class with hi him m. m Lopez also arranged for a good manager manager manag- manag manag manag- er Manuel Shorty Perez who guided the team for a quarter No one can recall Shorty yelling or acting gruff but if ifa ifa ifa a player had a bad game chances are he would be out of the lineup the next week The inhabited a gray area somewhere between the top recreation leagues and the lower rungs of semi-pro semi ball The infields were all dirt so Shorty would arrive hours before the first fast pitch to drag the surface smooth Pena recalls a I particular the ground was too i soggy to play Shorty showed up anyway I j I jI II I was taking my wife to the movies and andI I saw him out there Pena says He sprayed gasoline on the infield and lit it on fire Flames shooting up I swear to to God He was trying to make it dry Evergreen Park the only home for the They played at nearby Fresno and Belvedere parks Championship games were played at the two largest ball fields Wrigley and Gilmore where the Los Angeles Angels and Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast i League played But Evergreen is the place I that players the ones still living recall I most fondly The park sits in the middle of Boyle I Barrio Cont on Page 8 Barrio Cont from Page 7 Heights with shade trees at the edges and anda a recreation center in back Left field ran short so anything over the wall was a rule ground-rule double To earn a homer batters batters batters bat bat- had to hit the ball past a link chain-link fence and into the community pool Al AI Padilla who rooted for Carmelita as asa asa asa a boy later played for Ornelas Market one of many rivals that included Manuels All Stars and Jalisco Athletic Club The also took on Mexican teams either in Los Angeles or south of the border border border bor bor- der and ventured outside barrio baseball to compete at the highest level of the municipal municipal leagues If we were playing the Watts Giants or orone orone orone one of the Caucasian teams from the other side of town it was a machismo game Frank Lopez says It was hard baseball and parks department The recreation records for its municipal does not have the through leagues from the claims that carmelita but the Lopez family championships won 19 city h photographs I old Looking at who played dozen men out a Perez points or another ball at one point minor league watched for fresh Sr always Mario Lopez high been stars in had talent guys who I school j s talented year 16 year old old might In this way a outfielder outfield outfield- I break into the lineup and a steady but skill hang around till his I er might The factor the deciding wasp t always extended beyond team fulfilled a role that numbers in a box score Even the diamond looks different now switched around no more swimming pool arrival of beyond the fence With the another other spring there were no teams playing playing play play- ing mg ba baseball that Sunday afternoon only memories I |