A new Smithsonian exhibit opening this weekend at the Charlotte Museum of History highlights the role Latinos have played in shaping baseball both nationally and in Charlotte.
“¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues” traces more than a century of Latino contributions to baseball through bilingual displays, oral histories and artifacts collected from across the United States. While the Smithsonian exhibition tells a national story, the Charlotte Museum of History created a local companion exhibit highlighting the region's own baseball history.
Among the featured players is Cuban-born Minnie Mendoza, who spent more than a decade playing for the Charlotte Hornets minor league team. The exhibit includes one of Mendoza's bats, a media credential and newly digitized video interviews in which he reflects on making Charlotte his home.
"Minnie was constantly asked, 'How's it feel that you're not getting promoted up to the major leagues?'" museum historian Nolan Dahm said. "Every single time he was asked that, he answered, 'Not a big deal. I love Charlotte. Charlotte is home.'"
As Dahm researched Charlotte's baseball history, he said he expected to uncover just a few stories about Latino players. Instead, he found Latinos played a central role in Charlotte's baseball legacy.
"What I found going into it wasn't just that there are a lot of stories," Dahm said. "It's that Latin American baseball players are the foundational stories of Charlotte's baseball history."
The exhibit highlights players including Gil Torres, one of the first players signed by the Charlotte Hornets franchise, and Carlos Paula, an Afro-Cuban player whose arrival helped break the team's color barrier in the 1950s. Dahm said those stories demonstrate that Latino players were instrumental in some of the franchise's defining moments.
"The biggest successes that the Hornets baseball team ever had in their history were led by Latin American players," Dahm said. "And that is, I hope, what people take away from the exhibit."
The Charlotte Museum of History spent more than a year working with the Smithsonian to bring the traveling exhibition to Charlotte and spent the last several months developing its local component with help from the Charlotte Knights and families of former players. Museum leaders also wanted the exhibit to open during the Knights' baseball season and remain on display through Hispanic Heritage Month.
“¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues” opens Saturday, July 18, with family activities, a screening of a Smithsonian documentary, and a discussion on baseball in Charlotte and its connections to Latino players. The exhibit will remain on display through October.
