Latino Baseball Players Lose Out in “Save America’s Pastime Act”

in The Word is Text by

by Guadalupe Canales

With a new president in office new changes in law are bound to happen.

But does the Trump administration keep targeting Latino communities?

31% of baseball players are Latinos and this spring training many were scared of the Trump administration. With many players worrying about making it to the major leagues, now, they have to worry about the pay they would receive if they successfully made it to the MLB.

The Administration signed the Save America’s Pastime Act, which will permanently exempt minor league players from federal wages; this means that team owners will be legally able to pay less to Latino players than those born here in the United States.

This becomes a problem not only for the players but also for the Latino fans of baseball. As a Latino community, we have grown to love many players of Latino decent, but with this new act, we might not be able to see many players peruse baseball. Over all MLB understands that they rely on Latino fans to watch baseball because many Americans are not watching the sport themselves anymore. Although an American sport the baseball community has expanded to many Latinos because of Fernando Mania here in LA, and with Kike Hernandez and many others players around the league that have made a huge impact for their home countries.

This administration is targeting the Latino communities, not realizing that without Latinos the United States wouldn’t be what it is now. It’s a shame that our community is getting bombarded by idiotic acts and laws that in the long run will hurt America.

The El Popo Newspaper was first published in 1970 by students concerned about the lack of a Chicana and Chicano perspective in newspapers. As a result, students called the newspaper, El Popo. The paper was named El Popo after the volcano El Popocatepetl. Involved in Chicana/o Movement of the 60’s and 70’s, students saw a connection between the smoke spewing volcano ready to erupt and the student movement ready to engage. Thus, throughout the El Popo’s forty-six years, the name continues to symbolize and to represent the spirit of each generation of students that contribute to the pages of the El Popo Newspaper. Faculty Advisor/Publisher George Sanchez, MA Carlos R. Guerrero, Ph.D., 1992-2021