Near the Dodgers Dreamfield at the center of Belvedere Park in East L.A. is a plaque commemorating Manuel “Shorty” Perez, a legend of L.A. Baseball, but he wasn’t a Dodger, he was a Chorizero.
Baseball has long been an important aspect in Mexican-Neighborhoods since the early part of the 20th century. In fact, the years between the 1920s and 1960s is considered the golden age of Mexican American Baseball by researchers who’ve studied the subject. Leagues sprang up in the neighborhoods of L.A. with some teams sponsored by local businesses with names like Jalisco Beer, the San Fernando Missions, and the Zapateros to name a few.
Mario Lopez, an avid baseball player in his youth sponsored such a baseball team under the name of his business, Mario’s service station. After a few years he closed the gas station and opened a new business, Carmelita Provision Company, that provided Mexican food products that weren’t readily available, such as chicharrones and chorizo. Once again, he formed a team, which was eventually nicknamed Los Chorizeros ( or Sausage Makers in English) by one of the players. The company and team were so intertwined that the logo for both would eventually be a pig with a baseball cap holding a bat.
Los Chorizeros would go on to dominate the baseball fields of East LA and beyond under the guidance of Manuel “Shorty” Perez, who prior to taking over managerial duties for the Chorizeros, had been a player manager for the Elysian Athletic Club and National Auto Glass. Under Shorty, the team won 19 city championships in his 35 years with the team which also earned them the nickname of “the New York Yankees of LA Baseball”. Players loved playing for him and Shorty mentored those players both on and off the field; many of which would go on to become prominent community leaders, including teachers, political and business leaders, and professors.
Shorty passed away in 1981 and was buried in his uniform, holding a baseball autographed by his players. The team continued to play and be successful, but never at the level experienced during his tenure.
Sadly, Carmelita Provision Company closed sometime in the late 2010s, but their stories and those of other barrio baseball teams continue to be kept alive thanks to the passionate work of researchers like Professors Francisco Balderrama and Richard Santillan, whose writings I relied heavily on to compile this history and organizations like the institute for Baseball Studies and the Latino Baseball Project, who’ve worked to document and persevere these stories, to ensure future generations will know about them and legends like Shorty Perez and Los Chorizeros.
References:
“Los Chorizeros: The New York Yankees of East Los Angeles and the Reclaiming of Mexican American Baseball History” by Richard A. Santillan and Francisco E. Balderrama, The National Pastime: Endless Seasons: Baseball in Southern California (2011)
“Mexican American Baseball in East Los Angeles” by Richard A. Santillan et. al, Arcadia Publishing. 2016.
“How LA’s Mexican American Baseball Teams Hit a Home Run” by Hadley Meares, LAist. Sept. 21, 2021.
“The Glory of Their Times” by David Wharton, The Los Angeles Times. April 6, 2006.