¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues Part 2: The Spanish Colonies of Colorado

This five-part series takes audiences on a journey into the heart of American baseball to understand how generations of Latinas/os have helped make the game what it is today.

Between the 1920s and 1940s, sugar companies established over 100 segregated agricultural communities across the United States in states like Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. 

These “Spanish Colonies,” or colonias, were communities of primarily Spanish-speaking laborers and their families who came from the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Work in the sugar beet fields (the primary crop) was arduous—long, sweltering days of backbreaking labor for little pay—but the men of the colonias found recreation and relief in baseball. In Colorado’s sugar beet colonias, laborers often used their skills on the farm to enhance their baseball playing.

Handmade and modified tools were a hallmark of the agricultural industry throughout the United States. Knives like this took the top off sugar beets before sugar extraction.

This knife was used and modified by the De La Fuente family in Brush, Colorado.

 A catcher’s mask shows how the metalworking skills used to shape knives transferred to the baseball field.

This mask was modified and used by many Greeley (Colorado) Grays catchers over the years.

The Greeley “Spanish Colony,” established in 1924, was one of 13 in northeastern Colorado. Local baseball teams quickly formed and flourished as part of the Rocky Mountain League. They traveled to neighboring states, Wyoming and Nebraska, to play other colonias.

Players made baseball diamonds by clearing areas in fields used to dump sugar beets for the Great Western Sugar Company.

After World War II, some Japanese Americans returned or relocated to rural areas, including the “Spanish Colony” region, and started baseball teams. White teams often wouldn’t play them, but Mexican American teams did. 

After games, players gathered to share meals and swap stories. Lifelong friendships formed between players.

Mexican American and Japanese teams in the "Spanish Colony” region often faced off against each other, even before World War II.

This uniform has two Rocky Mountain League championship patches on its sleeves.

What do you see when you look at the names on different pages of the scorebook?

The intersecting lives of Latinas/os, African Americans, Asian Americans, and ethnic White Americans often came into focus on the baseball field. Baseball provided an opportunity to come together.

Community teams in particular often boasted members from varied backgrounds and enjoyed playing games with other communities, crossing racial lines in the United States.