Jorge Pasquel

Jorge Pasquel Casanueva

• Born April 23, 1907 in Veracruz, Veracruz MEX
• Died March 7, 1955 in San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi MEX

Biographical Information

The son of a shipping magnate, Jorge Pasquel and his brothers continued the trade. A rich man who liked to flaunt his wealth, Pasquel owned six Lincolns and had a haberdashery in his home. His big spending in the 1940s lured many Negro League players south, making the 1940 and 1941 seasons the strongest in Mexican League history. In 1946, he again dipped into his millions to bring some white Major League Baseball players to Mexico. When the major-leaguers returned north, Pasquel brought a lawsuit against Mickey Owen for not honoring his contract; Pasquel vs. Owen was decided in 1950. In the 1951 Liga championship, Pasquel was hit by a stone thrown by a San Luis Potosi fan. Angry, the Veracruz Blues owner left baseball, almost crippling the Mexican League. He died when his private plane crashed in 1955.

Further Reading

• Kevin Baxter (Los Angeles Times): "Before Jackie Robinson, Jorge Pasquel broke baseball's color barrier — in Mexico", Yahoo! News, December 7, 2022. [1]
• G. Richard McKelvey: Mexican Raiders in the Major Leagues: The Pasquel Brothers vs. Organized Baseball, 1946, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7864-2563-1
• John Virtue: South of the Color Barrier: How Jorge Pasquel and the Mexican League Pushed Baseball Toward Racial Integration, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7864-3293-6

Related Sites

• Jorge Pasquel at the SABR Bio Project
• Salon de la Fama page for Pasquel