“Viva Cuba Béisbol: A Photographic Journey Into the Heart and Soul of Cuban Baseball,” February 7, 2018, Whittier, CA
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018, 7:00 P.M.
WARDMAN LIBRARY, WHITTIER COLLEGE
7031 Founders Hill Road, Whittier, California
Byron Motley
“Regardless of political beliefs, differences in governance, or the chasm between cultures, through the decades there has been one common love that Americans share with our Cuban neighbors. Baseball is Cuba’s unchallenged national pastime and most beloved sport. The phenomenon of baseball on the island is a world unto itself.” – Byron Motley, Embracing Cuba
In conjunction with its exhibition, “Feeling the Heat: Cuba’s Baseball Heritage” (on view in the display cases in the foyer of the Wardman Library through March 15, 2018), the Institute for Baseball Studies and the Baseball Reliquary present “Viva Cuba Béisbol: A Photographic Journey Into the Heart and Soul of Cuban Baseball,” a lecture/slide presentation by Byron Motley, on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at the Wardman Library, 7031 Founders Hill Road, Whittier, California, on the campus of Whittier College. A Los Angeles-based singer, author, photographer, and filmmaker, Motley will also sign copies of his photo book, Embracing Cuba (University of Florida Press, 2015). The event is open to the public and free of charge.
Intrigued by tales of his parents’ long-ago journey to the pre-revolutionary “Pearl of the Antilles,” Byron Motley traveled to Cuba more than a decade ago and instantly fell in love. Year after year, he has returned with his camera to explore its vistas, its people, and its spirit. Granted unprecedented access to the Cuban national baseball teams by the Castro government, Motley set out to capture the spirit of the game which thrives in this rarely seen remarkable world. His images document Cuba’s national obsession; how the sport of baseball transcends politics, captures the hearts of the island, and weaves itself into the fabric of everyday life.
A man of diverse interests and talents, Byron Motley is a critically-acclaimed singer who has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Natalie Cole, Dionne Warwick, Celine
Byron Motley: Baseball on the Malecon (2008)
Dion, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, and others. He has performed on Broadway alongside Patti LuPone and has been a featured soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra on three separate occasions under the baton of conductor/composer John Williams. Motley regularly lectures on the history of the Negro Baseball Leagues, and co-authored the memoir of his father, umpire Bob Motley, entitled Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants, and Stars: True Tales of Breaking Barriers, Umpiring Baseball Legends, and Wild Adventures in the Negro Leagues. Motley is producing a television documentary, The Negro Baseball Leagues: An American Legacy, and has co-written a screenplay about legendary Negro Leagues executive Effa Manley, the first woman to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which will be produced and directed by Penny Marshall. An award-winning photographer, Motley’s work has been shown in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, and Cuba, and has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Advocate, New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere.
Byron Motley: “Conrado Marrero” (2008)
In addition to Byron Motley’s presentation, Whittier College professor and Institute for Baseball Studies co-director Joe Price will speak about his January 2018 course, “Cuba: Baseball as a Caribbean Religion,” and share some of the experiences that he and his students had in Cuba.
“Viva Cuba Béisbol: A Photographic Journey Into the Heart and Soul of Cuban Baseball” is made possible, in part, by a grant to the Baseball Reliquary from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. For further information, contact the Baseball Reliquary by phone at (626) 791-7647 or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net. For directions and parking, phone the Wardman Library at (562) 907-4247 during library hours.
“Embracing Cuba” by Byron Motley
*******************
For further information about Wednesday’s progam and other activities coming in February as gifts of The Baseball Reliquary, please check out this latest public message from Executive Director, Terry Cannon:
Friends & Reliquarians:
Super Bowl Sunday reminds us that spring training camps will soon open, and once again all will be right with the world. You’ll be glad to know that the Baseball Reliquary is already in midseason form, and we have a jam-packed programming lineup for the month of February. Here’s what’s on deck, and we hope to see you at one or more of these events.
On Wednesday, February 7, at 7:00 p.m., we turn our attention to Cuba as the Baseball Reliquary collaborates with the Institute for Baseball Studies to present “Viva Cuba Beisbol: A Photographic Journey Into the Heart and Soul of Cuban Baseball,” a lecture/slide presentation by Byron Motley. This event will be held at the Wardman Library, 7031 Founders Hill Road, on the campus of Whittier College. Parking throughout the campus is free after 5:00 p.m. Byron will also sign copies of his photo book, “Embracing Cuba,” and Whittier College professor and Institute for Baseball Studies co-director Joe Price will speak about his recent course “Cuba: Baseball as a Caribbean Religion,” and will share some of the experiences that he and his students had on the island. Each attendee will receive a genuine Fidel Castro trading card. Arrive early to view the exhibition, “Feeling the Heat: Cuba’s Baseball Heritage,” in the display cases in the foyer of the library. For more details, visit:
On Saturday, February 10, at 2:00 p.m., the Baseball Reliquary will present a film screening, discussion, and book signing with author, filmmaker, and historian Kerry Yo Nakagawa at the Allendale Branch Library, 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena. Entitled “Desert Diamonds Behind Barbed Wire,” the program will take you inside the concentration camps during World War II, where baseball became a tonic of spiritual renewal for disenfranchised Japanese Americans who played America’s pastime while imprisoned. The Reliquary will also display several baseball-themed paintings by artist Ben Sakoguchi. For further details on this event, visit:
On Saturday, February 24, at 2:00 p.m., the Baseball Reliquary will turn its gaze to the Negro Leagues with a program entitled “From Monarchs to Barons: The Legacy of the Negro Leagues” at the La Pintoresca Branch Library, 1355 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Once again, we turn to author, filmmaker, and photographer Byron Motley, who will discuss the great teams and players of the Negro Leagues, which rose to prominence in the decades before MLB’s integration. Los Angeles folk singer Ross Altman will join Byron and perform his original compositions “Ballad of Jackie Robinson” and “Civil Rights and Baseball.” A display of baseball artworks by Bill Cormalis Jr., Tina Hoggatt, and Ben Sakoguchi will also be featured. For additional information, visit:
Last but not least, the Baseball Reliquary and Institute for Baseball Studies recently hit the road and installed a major exhibition, “A Game of Color: The African-American Experience in Baseball,” at the San Francisco Public Library’s Skylight Gallery. The exhibition will run through March 18, and there are five separate programs being presented in conjunction with the exhibition in the months of February and March. So if you live in the Bay Area, or plan to take an excursion there in the near future, check out the goings-on. Here’s a rundown on what’s scheduled, courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library:
https://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1031367001
Please advise if you would like any further information.
Sincerely,
Terry Cannon
Executive Director/The Baseball Reliquary
Co-Director/Institute for Baseball Studies
www.baseballreliquary.org
phone: (626) 791-7647
e-mail: terymar@earthlink.net
********************
Regards,
Bill McCurdy
Pecan Park Eagle
and
Registered Baseball Reliquarian
********************
Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
Houston, Baseball, & Other Musings.
The Pecan Park Eagle 