| Mexico
Béisbol
 VIVA
BÉISBOL!
Although there is some dispute about exactly when and where
béisbol started in Mexico, baseball has a long and
colorful history in Mexico with historians placing its origin
there as early as the 1840’s. Today, baseball flourishes
in Mexico with a 16-team Summer League and an 8-team Winter
League. Approximately 100 native Mexicans have played in the
major leagues in the United States, including Fernando Valenzuela,
Vinny Castilla, Ismael Valdéz, and Esteban Loaiza.
The first Mexican native to play in Major League Baseball
in the United States was Baldomero “Melo” Almada,
who debuted with the Boston Red Sox on September 8, 1933.
The Liga Mexicana de Béisbol
was founded in 1925 with six teams playing all their games
in Mexico City. In the 1930s and 1940s, African-Americans
from the United States—who were still barred from Major
League Baseball until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier
in 1947--played alongside Mexicans and Cubans in the Mexican
League. This arrangement benefited the African-American players
through higher salaries and better conditions than in the
Negro Leagues in the United States, and helped the Mexican
League gain status and revenue from increasing the caliber
of their ballplayers. In 1937, legendary Negro Leagues’
stars Satchel Paige and James “Cool Papa Bell”
left the Pittsburgh Crawfords to play in Latin America. After
playing a year in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, Paige
and Bell joined the Mexican League. In 1940, Bell won the
Triple Crown, hitting .437, with 12 home runs, and 79 RBIs.
The next year, fellow Negro Leaguer Josh Gibson hit .374,
and set Mexican League records with 33 home runs and 124 RBIs
in only 103 games. His home run mark almost tripled the existing
Mexican record and stood until 1960 when the Mexican League
had a longer season.
In the 1940s, multi-millionaire Jorge Pasquel
attempted to turn the Mexican League into a first-rate rival
to the Major Leagues in the United States. In 1946, Pasquel
traveled north of the border to pursue the top players in
the Negro and Major Leagues. Although he was reportedly turned
down by Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, Pasquel signed up close
to twenty white major leaguers, including such well known
names as Mickey Owen and Sal Maglie, and a number of Negro
League players. Ultimately, Pasquel’s dream faded, as
financial realities led to decreased salaries and his high-priced
foreign stars returned home.
Currently, 16 teams divided into North and South
Divisions play in the Liga Mexicana in a summer season,
which ends in a 7-game championship series between the winners
of the two divisions. Since 1967, the league has been sanctioned
as an “AAA” minor league. In the winter, eight
teams play in the Liga Mexicana de Pacifico, whose
winner advances to the Caribbean Series against other Latin
American winners.
In 1957, baseball in Mexico got a big boost
when a little league team in Mexico won the Little League
World Series in Williamsport. 12-year old Angel Macias won
the championship for the Mexicans by throwing a perfect game
against a team from La Mesa, California.
The El Sálon de la Fama, the Mexican
Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, has enshrined 167 into
its Hall of Immortals, consisting of 138 Mexicans, 16 Cubans,
12 from the United States, and one Puerto Rican. Distinguished
players include Major League Baseball stars Roy Campanella
and Monte Irvin, who played in the Mexican League in the 1940s.
Nicknamed “El Bambino Mexicano,” or the
Mexican Babe Ruth, Hector Espino was inducted in the Mexican
Hall of Fame in 1988, after playing with San Luis Potosi,
Monterrey, and Tampico from 1962 to 1984. His 453 home runs
remained the record until Nelson Barrera surpassed him in
2001. Espino still holds the all-time records in many offensive
categories.
In international competition, the Mexican national
team failed to advance beyond the second round of the World
Baseball Classic in 2006. But its second-round 2-1 victory
over the United States before a heavy pro-USA crowd of 38,284
in Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, proved to be a big
highlight to Mexicans as the win prevented its bigger rival
from moving on to the semi-finals. Mexican teams have won
the Caribbean Series against other Latin countries six times,
most recently in 2005 when Venados de Mazatlán
won in its home town.
Links
Official Site
of Mexico’s Summer League (Liga de Mexicana)
Official
Site of Pacific League of Mexico
Mexican
Baseball Hall of Fame
Available for Purchase
"Viva
Baseball! A book about Latin Major Leaguers" by Samuel
O. Regalado
"Baseball's
First Mexican-American Star: The Amazing Story of Leo Najo,"
by Noe Torres
Players Born in Mexico
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