Velásquez began assisting his parents in the fields when he was four years old. His family traveled from the Southwest to Midwest each year, following the harvest season for various crops. They rode with other migrant workers in a pickup truck with a canvas-covered bed, huddling around a can of hot ashes and covering themselves in blankets to stay warm. Often, the family would have only a single room for the parents and all their children. One winter, he and his siblings had gathered together for warmth while snow drifted into their one-room shack through gaps in the walls. The family's poverty worsened one year when an employer paid his father only half the wages he was owed. In 1954, his parents settled permanently in Gilboa, Ohio, where they worked in the fields in the summer and in a cannery during the winter. Baldemar knew almost no English when he entered the first grade, and struggled academically. He was a good athlete, playing several sports, but was often ridiculed for his Mexican American heritage. Velásquez led his first strike at the age of 12, helping pickers at his summer job win better wages. He began to excel in his studies in the eighth grade, making honor roll. He attended Pandora-Gilboa High School, where he participated in baseball, basketball, football, and track and field, and took college preparatory courses. His high school career guidance counselor advised him to only focus on industrial arts courses, but Velásquez refused.