By RENE TORRES
With the spring of 1938 approaching, the Rio Grande Valley became sports-minded in a big way, and it was baseball fever causing the excitement.
In 1910, the Brownsville Brownies introduced professional baseball to the region in the form of the Southwest Texas League (STL), and it was here again in the 20s, but this time around, it was a serious proposition as the given photo shows members of Valley officials that met in Harlingen to engage in cementing plans for the upcoming circuit, the Texas Valley League (TVL).
As a newcomer in the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), the circuit fielded six clubs: the Harlingen Hubs, the McAllen Palms, the Corpus Christi Spudders, the Taft Cardinals, the Refugio Oilers, and the Brownsville Charros.
For the fans that comprised almost a quarter of a million population within the section of the rival towns, there was great enthusiasm for the game.
It was a period when baseball was a game, absent the designated hitter, big salaries, steroids and the electronic scoreboard — a time when the pitcher utilized saliva and/or the spitball to embarrass the hitter.
It was also an era when it was common to pass the hat around the ballpark to collect for a good feat. It was also a time when a whirl of dust would cause the game to take a pause.
With this backdrop, field manager Jake Atz began, in early April, to assemble a crack nine in Harlingen that would be known as the Harlingen Hubs.
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