Colton Centrals/Cubs Baseball Remembered Nearly 100 Years Later

Baseball has always been America's favorite pastime, but for Colton's Centrals/Cubs baseball team, it was more than that: it was life. "These men slept, ate and lived baseball. It was everything," said Mel Salazar, a Colton resident and self-proclaimed baseball historian who nominated the team for induction into the Colton Sports Hall of Fame. Salazar was successful; by unanimous decision from the Recreation and Parks Commission the team will be inducted into the Colton Sports Hall of Fame Friday night, April 10. Formed as early as 1922 by sponsor and manager Juan Caldera, the team's players were Hispanic players living in Colton and San Bernardino. The team played between the 1920s and 1930s at Cubs Park, colloquially known as El Corralón, or "The Corral," contending with other local and traveling teams from countries like Japan and China. The Centrals/Cubs also frequently traveled to play in Mexicali, playing with and against baseball greats like Chicago White Sox pitcher Gordon Maltzberger and Major Leaguers George Caster and James Leroy Faulkner. "It just goes to show you how good these players were. Some of them could have been Major Leaguers if they were allowed, but we all know how things were during those times," said Salazar, alluding to discriminatory laws preventing athletes of color from joining the Major League. Some of the players of the 1930s include: Porfirio Castorena and his brothers Aruturo Castorena, Pio Castorena and Sal Castorena; Milton Noriega; Ambrocio Gonzalez; Dometilo Duarte; Andres Negrete; Manuel Gaitan; Juan Hernandez; Juan Rivas; Cayetano Calderilla; and Remigio Hernandez. Over 150 family members are expected to be present at Friday's induction ceremony to honor the memories of the players and the near 100-year legacy they left behind. Though Salazar himself doesn't have a family connection to this team, he was moved to nominate the players both because he knows so many of their family members, and also because he doesn't want to see such rich history, nor its players, be forgotten. "I'm doing this so people don't forget them," said Salazar. "We were invisible then, but things have changed for the better. They won't make the Major League Hall of Fame, but they will make the Colton Sports Hall of Fame. They have that." The induction ceremony will take place at the Gonzales Community Center, 670 Colton Ave., beginning at 6 p.m. The team will be inducted alongside another legendary Colton athlete, Roy W. Cook Jr.