Thousands of articles!
B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
October 3, 2022
MEXICAN BASEBALL FIESTA BEGINS 11TH SEASON
The Mexican Baseball Fiesta will
return to Tucson for an eleventh year for four nights, beginning this Thursday.
The international event mainly comprised of teams from the Mexican Pacific
League began in 2011 and completed its ninth year in 2019 before shutting down
operations in 2020 due to Wuhan virus health restrictions.
The MBF involves a partnership with
Mexican Pacific League teams, many of which journey to the US for preseason
training camps. The event is overseen by Mike Feder, a 30-year minor league
general manager (15 of those in Tucson) as President of the MBF, and
founder/partner Francisco Gamez, who played ten winters in the Mex Pac, which
annually draws many more fans per game than any minor league north of the
border.
Mexican Baseball Fiesta games have
an electricity in the air not seen during MLB spring training in February and
March with music playing all the time, mascots on the field, fans dancing in the
stands and authentic Mexican food like tacos, tortas and burritos instead of
hot dogs and peanuts (although those are available at concession stands. Fans
follow their teams across the border with such fierce loyalty and pass their
love of the game on from generation to generation. It’s not uncommon to see
three generations of families enjoying a game together, all wearing replica
jerseys of their favorite team.
Fom its roots in Tucson, the Mexican
Baseball Fiesta has grown throughout Arizona and occasionally into California,
Nevada and New Mexico. This year, the Fiesta increased its stay in the Phoenix
area with an extra day in Maryvale, where the Hermosillo Naranjeros played
single games against a team of Obregon, Navojoa and Guasave players at the Brewers
spring ballpark September 23 and 24. That was followed by three doubleheaders
in Mesa over the just-concluded weekend at Sloan Park, training camp home of
the Cubs.
The event now moves to Tucson (known
to some as “Optics Valley” due to the 150 Tucson
companies are involved in the design and manufacture of optics and
optoelectronics systems) for seven games between Thursday and Sunday, beginning
with an October 6 doubleader featuring Obregon and Navojoa in the 5:05PM opener
followed by a nightcap between Hermosillo and the University of Arizona. In
all, four LMP teams (Hermosillo, Obregon, Navojoa and Mexicali) will play in
Tucson at Kino Stadium, an 11,500-seat former spring home to the Arizona
Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox as well as a Tucson Pacific Coast League
team. The facility, which opened in 1998, is now used by the Tucson Saguaros,
three-time champions of the independent Pecos League.
Past ticket sales indicate that
about 20 percent of the crowd is from Mexico. A few years ago, the Visit Tucson
tourism organization did an economic impact study of the event and determined
that the MBF generates over $1.5 million to Tucson's local economy. “We’re
excited to partner with this great event for the eleventh year to bring Mexican
baseball back to Tucson,” said Felipe Garcia, President/CEO of Visit Tucson.
“The popularity of this event continues to grow, and we are proud to be a part
of something that both locals and visitors look forward to every October. The
Mexican Baseball Fiesta is the true definition of a quality cultural event and
a boon to our community and economy.”
MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE TO OPEN SECOND SEASON
The Mexican Baseball League will
operate the Mexican Winter League for a second season in 2022. This year, the
LIM will be divided into three divisions: North, Central and South. Its
objective, according the the LMB, is to promote the young talents of
participating clubs.
LMB president Horacio de la Vega
Flores said in a press release, “We applaud the efforts of the organizations
that are part of the LIM in 2022. Likewise, we thank the authorities of the
Yucatan State government, their host municipalities, as well as the
municipality of Poza Rica, Veracruz, promoters of the development of our young
talents.
“Alejandro Kirk, today a baseball
star in the Major Leagues, was forged in this circuit a few seasons ago. Fans
will appreciate the players who will shine in the near future, players who will
be a source of inspiration, zeal and professionalism of those who came before
them and who are currently figures of Mexican baseball.”
The
LIM's ten teams (including four combining players from two LMB clubs) and their
home venues for the upcoming campaign are:
North
Division
Monclova
Acereros (Monclova Stadium), Monclova, Coahuila
Monterrey
Sultanes (Estadio Monterrey), Monterrey, Nuevo León
Unión
Laguna Algodoneros (Estadio de La Revolución), Torreón, Coahuila
Central
Division
Mexico
City Diablos Rojos/Oaxaca Guerreros (Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú), Mexico City,
DF
Puebla
Pericos (Estadio Hermanos Serdán), Puebla, Puebla
Veracruz
Aguilas/Leon Bravos (Estadio Heriberto Jara Corona), Poza Rica, Veracruz
South
Division
Aguascalientes
Rieleros/Tijuana Toros (Campo Aureliano Centeno), Valladolid, Yucatan
Durango
Generales (Campo Juan Rivero Alonzo), Tizimín, Yucatan
Guadalajara
Mariachis/Tabasco Olmecas (Parque Miguel Hidalgo), Progreso, Yucatan
Yucatan
Leones (Parque Eliseo Gómez), Umán, Yucatan
Games in the North and Central
divisions will begin on October 12 and one day later in the South. The regular
season will close on November 27 in the South while in the North and Central,
the schedule concludes on November 28. North and Central division clubs will
play 24 games each while those of the South play a total of 28 contests.
Central Division games will be
played from Wednesdays through Sundays, with the exception of the fial game
between Puebla and the Veracruz/Leon team on Monday, November 28. Games in the
South will be held Thursdays to Sundays while in the North Division, games will
be played without a set pattern with a maximum of two days of rest per team.
In the Serie del Principe
(Prince's Series) the champion will be defined and the best of five games will
be crowned between December 3 and 8, closing at the ballpark of the highest-ranked
seed. The title matchup will be determined by the top two teams based on the
percentage of wins and losses, regardless of which division they belong to. In
case of a tie, a run-differential formula will be used. If a team from the
South Division reaches the Serie del Principe, they would play in
Merida's Kukulcán Park, home of the 2022 King's Series (Serie del Rey)
champion Yucatan Leones.
The rosters will be made up of a
maximum of 28 players from the LMB Reserve Lists, as well as players authorized
by the Liga office and in the process of signing. The age limit is 25 years,
with a maximum of six free agents, among which there may be three foreigners.
The current defending champions of
the LIM (Liga Invernal de Mexico) are the Monclova Acereros, who
defeated the Puebla Pericos in five games for the 2021 pennant.
SALON DE LA FAMA 2023 BALLOT ADDS ELEVEN NAMES
The Salon del a Fama's Pre-candidate
Nomination Assembly was held last Friday to implement the voting ballots for
the Election of the new immortals of Mexican baseball for induction in 2023.
Eleven baseball players to be added
to the final ballot were announced together with eight unnamed candidates who
are being carried over from the last vote in 2020, thus integrating a ballot
with fourteen candidates in the Mexican Baseball Players Category and a new
Card with five candidates in the Mexican Players Category with a minimum of 7
seasons in Major Leagues. Of the 19 names on the ballot, a maximum of five will
be elected.
The eleven ballot newcomers selected
were:
Players
in Mexican Baseball Leagues:
Miguel Flores, Germán Jiménez, Noe Munoz, Miguel Ojeda, Mike Paul, Roberto
Ramirez, Javier Robles.
Mexicans
with 7+ Years in the Major Leagues: Juan Gabriel Castro, Karim Garcia, Rodrigo López,
Ismael Valdez.
The Nomination Assembly was made up
of Electoral Committee president Antonio de Valdes, Mexican League president
Horacio de la Vega, Mexican Pacific League president Carlos Manrique, Salon de
la Fama director Fancisco Padilla Davila and Salon historian Horacio Ibarra.
Reults of the election will be announced in February 2023. The most recent election resulted in a Class of 2021 that included players Matias Carrillo, Vinny Castilla, Eduardo Jimenez, Isidro Marquez and Jose Luis Sandoval; veteran William “Bonnie” Serrell and journalist Jorge Menendez Torre.
