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What’sthe Score?American Indiansin SportsExhibition OpeningMarch 24, 2010The Museum’s newest exhibition, What’s the Score? AmericanIndians in Sports, opening March 24, explores the role of sportsin American Indian culture, focusing on the activities of Cahuillapeople both at the local and national level. Native Americans havea long tradition of sporting activities from casual games to majorsporting events. These games and events played an important rolein teaching and reinforcing community values and had a strongconnection to social, spiritual, and economic aspects of Indian life.Many people recognize Jim Thorpe as a famous American Indian.He was one of several young Indians who turned his boardingschool experience into athletic achievement. Fewer people knowthat a local Cahuilla man excelled in his role as catcher for both theNew York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. John Tortes Meyers(1880-1971), from the Santa Rosa Reservation, played in the majorleagues from 1909 to 1917 where he distinguished himself both defensivelyand offensively with a batting average of .332 in 1911, .358in 1912, and .312 in 1913. The Giants took home the National Leaguepennant in each of those years.... These games and events played an importantrole in teaching and reinforcing community valuesand had a strong connection to social, spiritual,and economic aspects of Indian life ... The popularity of non-Indian sports grew on and off Indianreservations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Native Americans quickly adapted to these sports, and continued toplay traditional sports like lacrosse. In southern California,reservation baseball and softball teams were intensely competitive,drawing their respective communities to games for socialinteraction and entertainment. Many of these ballplayers havereceived recognition for their achievements on the field. TheAndreas family produced three generations of outstandingballplayers: John J. Andreas, a contemporary of John Meyers, wasa worthy baseball player in his own right; his son, Anthony J.Andreas, played shortstop and pitcher for the Morongo All-Indianteam; and his grandson, John D. Andreas, a star pitcher, wasoffered a contract by one of the coast league teams as a futureplayer in the their farm system.Cover of December 17, 1910 edition of Sporting Life featuring “Jack” MeyersCaptionBaseball is not the only sport in which local Indian men andwomen have excelled. Cahuilla athletes have distinguishedthemselves in both amateur and professional sports from bowlingto boxing. In recent decades, skateboarding has become extremelypopular on Indian reservations across the country. Augustine andArmondo Lerma, lineal descendants of the Agua Caliente Band ofCahuilla Indians, are pre-teen skateboarders who have alreadyreceived national recognition. This exhibition will highlight theseand many other Cahuilla athletes and their achievements.3