Exactly one night after celebrating Independence Day as a community, the Hooks baseball organization decided to affirm a Hispanic heritage and Mexican culture, so deeply rooted in the Coastal Bend. The flags of the United States, Texas, and Mexico flew beautifully over center-field and overlooked a newly designed logo of the "Raspa" at home plate.
For those who "aren’t from around these parts" a raspa is a cold treat made from ice and sweetly flavored syrup, more commonly called a snow-cone. It is synonymous with a way to manage in the South Texas heat, made extremely popular in neighborhood barrios. True to local form, there were raspa-stands set up strategically around Whataburger Field. If you have a sweet tooth you can add a scoop of ice cream (preferably Blue Bell or HEB brand); if you like to walk on the wild-side, pic-a-dilly and chamoy (Mexican candy) are the way to go.
Upon entry of the stadium, fans were greeted with the hottest new mariachi band in Kingsville, Nueva Vida. The music charged with passion and tradition turned the baseball game into a bonafide fiesta. The star-spangled banner was a beautiful, yet classical, mariachi-rendition as well and in between innings, popular Tejano songs were belted out on the PA system. It was different in that it wasn’t the usual; but, it also felt second-nature and familiar to the fans who pack the house regardless of what the team is wearing. By the way, the team was wearing an amazing strawberry-red RASPA jersey with multicolored lettering and embroidery.
The supreme moment of the night was not the victory, even though the Corpus Christi Raspas only allowed 2 hits and won 3-0 over the Arkansas Travelers. Fireworks danced, exploded, and erupted to the hit song, Bidi-Bidi Bom-Bom; Tejana legend, Selena, sang fans into the night, she walked them into the parking lot overseen by a statue of heroic Nolan Ryan and still that was not the best part of the night! The most wonderful component was the sum of everything equaling inclusivity!! The strong nod from an organization, to it’s fan base, who have baseball running in their veins. Those veins are covered in brown skin, and that brown skin hasn’t always been treated with dignity or even something to be proud of. However tonight, that brown skin wasn’t just treated fairly….it was celebrated and it felt great, it felt like home. Viva Raspas!
