Oral History with Oralia Rodriguez (Cano)
Dublin Core
Title
Oral History with Oralia Rodriguez (Cano)
Subject
Mercedes Green Hornets
Women
Softball
Description
Oralia Rodriguez discusses her time on the 1940s softball team, the Green Hornets, as well as about her life in the Rio Grande Valley
Creator
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives
Publisher
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Date
2018-06-14
2018
Contributor
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Rights
Oralia Rodriguez
Format
MP3
Language
English
Type
Oral History
Identifier
ELIBR027-RodriguezOraliaCano_20180614_edited
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Duration
1:27:28
Interviewer
Sean Visintainer
Interviewee
Oralia Cano Rodriguez
Location
McAllen, Texas
Time Summary
0:00 Introduction
1:30 Introduction of Solomon Rodriguez
1:40 How did you get interested in softball and baseball?
2:25 What was it about softball particularly that grabbed you?
3:33 Why didn’t you play [softball] in high school?
3:43 What were the fields like when you were playing in grammar school?
7:04 I was curious if there was any bias when you were playing, if members of the community thought it [baseball] was a boy’s game that you were playing?
10:31 I was curious about the Green Hornets… when did the team actually get founded?
11:33 And then how many teams were there when you started?
15:35 To clarify, what was Rodolfo’s [Rololfo Garza] role with the team [the Green Hornets]? Was he the owner and the coach?
16:45 It sounds like Rodolfo did a lot of the managerial and logistics works. Were there other people that were involved in the logistics [of running the Green Hornets]?
24:22 And you played right field?
24:26 What was the most difficult thing about playing right field?
26:11 What was the field like in Mercedes that the Green Hornets played on?
27:13 To come back to the field, was there a name for the field?
27:33 Were there bleachers? What was the capacity [of the Mercedes field]?
28:43 Was there lighting on the park? [Were] there concessions?
31:29 When you would travel for games, how would the team travel?
32:43 What year did you win the championship?
32:57 And then you went to San Antonio after that [as a team to play against the San Antonio team]?
33:27 Did the league have an official name?
34:51 When you were playing against the different teams in the [Rio Grande] Valley, [which] was the toughest team? Was there a team you really enjoyed beating because they were tough or one that you really hated playing against?
35:44 Did she [Julia Burst, star pitcher for Los Fresnos] have a particular pitch that was unhittable?
43:11 How old were you when you first started [playing for the Green Hornets]?
43:35 And you mentioned that… none of the women were married on the Green Hornets team. And that was pretty normal for the league… did the women have jobs?
46:37 We did talk a little earlier [39:38] about the fact that the team was in existence during the war years… How did the war effect baseball and softball in South Texas and the [Rio Grande] Valley?
47:23 When you say “everything” you mean that a lot of people down here were gone [off to war]?
53:16 So this [Bracero Program, conversation about started at 51:38] is a little off topic from baseball, but I’m curious: the Bracero Program started in the [19]50s, uh, we have the war effort going on [in the 1940s] and a lot of the men were shipped out. Who was working the [farm] fields [before the Bracero Program went into effect]?
1:11:01 …And start the recording again. We had a phone call so we stopped the recording. We’re about to finish up, was there anything I didn’t ask you about, that you think is really important to know about the Green Hornets? [Mrs. and Mr. Rodriguez talk about the Green Hornets name, PASO, race relations in the Rio Grande Valley, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, politics and political parties in Texas, the succession of the Rio Grande Valley from Texas, gambling, Harry Truman, FDR, and television]
1:30 Introduction of Solomon Rodriguez
1:40 How did you get interested in softball and baseball?
2:25 What was it about softball particularly that grabbed you?
3:33 Why didn’t you play [softball] in high school?
3:43 What were the fields like when you were playing in grammar school?
7:04 I was curious if there was any bias when you were playing, if members of the community thought it [baseball] was a boy’s game that you were playing?
10:31 I was curious about the Green Hornets… when did the team actually get founded?
11:33 And then how many teams were there when you started?
15:35 To clarify, what was Rodolfo’s [Rololfo Garza] role with the team [the Green Hornets]? Was he the owner and the coach?
16:45 It sounds like Rodolfo did a lot of the managerial and logistics works. Were there other people that were involved in the logistics [of running the Green Hornets]?
24:22 And you played right field?
24:26 What was the most difficult thing about playing right field?
26:11 What was the field like in Mercedes that the Green Hornets played on?
27:13 To come back to the field, was there a name for the field?
27:33 Were there bleachers? What was the capacity [of the Mercedes field]?
28:43 Was there lighting on the park? [Were] there concessions?
31:29 When you would travel for games, how would the team travel?
32:43 What year did you win the championship?
32:57 And then you went to San Antonio after that [as a team to play against the San Antonio team]?
33:27 Did the league have an official name?
34:51 When you were playing against the different teams in the [Rio Grande] Valley, [which] was the toughest team? Was there a team you really enjoyed beating because they were tough or one that you really hated playing against?
35:44 Did she [Julia Burst, star pitcher for Los Fresnos] have a particular pitch that was unhittable?
43:11 How old were you when you first started [playing for the Green Hornets]?
43:35 And you mentioned that… none of the women were married on the Green Hornets team. And that was pretty normal for the league… did the women have jobs?
46:37 We did talk a little earlier [39:38] about the fact that the team was in existence during the war years… How did the war effect baseball and softball in South Texas and the [Rio Grande] Valley?
47:23 When you say “everything” you mean that a lot of people down here were gone [off to war]?
53:16 So this [Bracero Program, conversation about started at 51:38] is a little off topic from baseball, but I’m curious: the Bracero Program started in the [19]50s, uh, we have the war effort going on [in the 1940s] and a lot of the men were shipped out. Who was working the [farm] fields [before the Bracero Program went into effect]?
1:11:01 …And start the recording again. We had a phone call so we stopped the recording. We’re about to finish up, was there anything I didn’t ask you about, that you think is really important to know about the Green Hornets? [Mrs. and Mr. Rodriguez talk about the Green Hornets name, PASO, race relations in the Rio Grande Valley, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, politics and political parties in Texas, the succession of the Rio Grande Valley from Texas, gambling, Harry Truman, FDR, and television]
Files
Collection
Citation
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives, “Oral History with Oralia Rodriguez (Cano),” UTRGV Digital Exhibits, accessed April 19, 2024, https://omeka.utrgv.edu/items/show/1535.