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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
September 20, 2021
TOROS
WIN SERIE DEL REY GAME 7, MEXICAN LEAGUE PENNANT
The Tijuana Toros completed their
improbable comeback in the Mexican League championship series by winning the
last two games of the best-of-seven set, including a 3-0 Game Seven victory
last Wednesday night as the Toros became only the second team in the Liga's
95-year history to overcome a 3-game-to-0 deficit and win the LMB finals with
four consecutive triumph (the Jalisco Charros were the first in 1971).
The following is a wrap of the final
two games of the 2021 Mexican League season:
GAME 6
(Tuesday, September 14): TIJUANA 10, Yucatan 3
The Toros continued their comeback
effort last Tuesday night with a 10-3 trouncing of Yucatan in Game Six at home.
Efren Navarro was the man of the match after driving in six runs on four hits
(including a three-run double) between the fourth and seventh innings as 16,998
aficionados at Estadio Nacional watched the action.
The Leones took a 2-0 lead in the
top of the third when Yadier Drake doubled to right scored Norberto Obeso and
then scored on a Luis Juarez single. A Navarro single to right in the bottom of
the fourth plated Daniel Castro and Junior Lake to tie the game but it was Luis
Alfonso Cruz' three-run, line-drive homer to left that capped the Toros'
five-run outburst and put TJ ahead for good. Jorge Flores came in on a Drake
sacrifice fly to bring Yucatan with 5-3 in the top of the fifth, but Navarro's
bases-loaded double brought the Bulls' lead up to 8-3 and run-scoring hits from
Castro (a double) and Navarro in the seventh ended the scoring for the night.
6'7” reliever Michael Tonkin was
awarded the win for Tijuana with a
perfect 1.2 innings out of the bullpen while Leones starter Yoanner Negrin
suffered the loss after being tagged for eight runs in 4.1 frames. Both Castros
(Daniel and Leandro) had three hits each for the Toros while Obeso and Flores
had two hits apiece for the visitors from Merida.
GAME 7
(Wednesday, September 15): TIJUANA 3, Yucatan 0
Peter O'Brien broke a scoreless tie
by socking an opposite-field solo homer to right off Yucatan starter Jake
Thompson in the bottom of the third inning, and that turned out to be enough
for Tijuana pitcher Teddy Stankiewicz and three relievers to combine on a
three-hitter during the Toros' 3-0 shutout over the Leones, completing the
border city's unlikely comeback in front of 17,687 at Estadio Nacional.
Tijuana added insurance runs in the
fifth inning (on Leandro Castro's RBI single) and seventh frame (when Isaac
Rodriguez drew a walk and came all the way to score on a throwing error by
Yucatan third baseman Alex Liddi), but the story of the game was the Toros'
pitching. Stankiewicz retired the first nine batters he faced and went on to
scatter three hits over six innings with a half-dozen strikeouts to earn the
win. Former MLB All-Star Fernando Rodney closed out the game with a perfect
ninth inning during which he threw 10 strikes on 13 pitches, the last one
getting Art Charles swinging for the save and the final out of the season.
Junior Lake led the champions with
three hits while Gabriel Gutierrez added a pair of singles but the big blow
belonged to O'Brien as the Toros outhit the visitors by a 10-to-3 margin (as
Yucatan got one-baggers from Norberto Obeso, Luis Juarez and Juan Jose
Aguilar). Thompson absorbed the loss for the Leones after allowing two runs on
five hits over 4.2 innings. Tijuana first baseman Efren Navarro was announced
as the Serie del Rey MVP due to his .308 batting average over the seven
games, including four hits and six RBIs in Game Six.
MAZATLAN
TO HOST MEXICAN LEAGUE TEAM IN 2022?
As columnist David Braverman noted
in a recent Out 27 column in Puro Beisbol, the Mayor of Mazatlán,
Luis Guillermo Benítez Torres, confirmed that a group of businessmen are in
very advanced talks to finalize a franchise of the Mexican Baseball League in
the port city.
Braverman announced that the
brothers Jose Juan and Erick Arellano brothers (owners of the Yucatán Leones),
have been negotiating to purchase and move the Aguascalientes Rieleros to
Mazatlán, their hometown. Benítez denied the Arellanos' involvement, claiming
that there are other businessmen involved.
Sources assured Puro Beisbol
that the other club with a possible move to the port are the Durango Generales,
who were recently purchased by Venezuelan Carlos Lazo, an entrepreneur who's
lived in Guadalajara for 15 years. Juan Carlos Martinez, who sold the team to
Lazo after owning it less than two years, told Durango's El Siglio newspaper
that Lazo would not move the team out of town. However, the Generales have
struggled on the field and in the box office since 2017, their first season in
the western Mexico city after being moved there from the Gulf of Mexico resort
city of Carmen, and it would not be out of the question for Lazo to cast an eye
upon Mazatlan (a smaller city than Durango but with a nicer ballpark and great
support for the Mexican Pacific League's Venados).
Mazatlan mayor Benitez has
reportedly held talks with Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega as well
as the Arellano brothers and sounded like a man who expects summer baseball to
be played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal once arrangements are finalized.
"The issue of the stadium is being legally addressed," Benítez was
quoted as saying in Puro Beisbol.
"Many levels of government have
intervened because summer baseball is coming. Summer baseball is not going to
be handled by the company that has winter baseball (Jose Antonio Toledo and
family)...others are going to handle it," he added, without specifying
who.
If the move
is made, Mazatlán would be the third city in the country with professional
baseball all year with LMP and LMB teams, along with with Guadalajara and
Monterrey.
The Arellano brothers have sought to
bring baseball to Mazatlán since joining the LMB in 2013 when they acquired the
Lions, and then the idea for the Mariners emerged. However, when questioned
about their potential ownership of a Mazatlan Mexican League franchise, Benitez
replied, "This group is not going to handle summer baseball at all. They
are with the Yucatán Leones.”
The Arellano brothers bought the
financially-ailing Laguna Vaqueros a few years after purchasing the team in
Merida, with the idea of moving the Vaqueros to Mazatlan and renaming them the
Marineros (a moniker they would reportedly use if the Rieleros are bought and
relocated to the Pacific coast). However, after owning the Torreon team for a
year and experiencing questions about their finances, the Arellanos sold the Vaqueros
to local interests, who renamed the club the Union Laguna Algodoneros.
Some assume that the Toledo family
will continue to controls concessions at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, but the
mayor clarified that the park belongs to the Mazatlán City Council. "They
are already working on that. As soon as they specify it they will make it
known. There will be no problem with the stadium, since the property does not
belong to any businessman, it belongs to the City Council."
The Toledos have been embroiled with
the City of Mazatlan in a myriad of issues almost since the ballpark reopened
in 2018 after extensive renovations were completed. At one point early last
year, the Venados were physically removed from their on-site offices after
claims that they did not live up to a signed agreement allowing them to operate
the facility. Although the dispute was put on hold long enough for the Venados
to play home games and host the Caribbean Series last winter, nothing has
actually been resolved between the two warring sides.
MAESTROS
OF MEXICO: Hector Espino, 1B (1960-84)
During BBM's Viva
Beisbol days between 2005-07, we ran a series of profiles on top players
with ties to Mexican baseball titled Maestros of Mexico. The Maestros
will be resurrected for the rest of 2021 as space permits but unlike the
original series (which included players who were born outside or never played
inside Mexico), this installment will feature only Mexican-born players who
spent time in the Mexican or Mexican Pacific Leagues. We'll lead off with the
legendary “Superman of Chihuahua,” Hector Espino:
The consensus pick
among fans as the greatest player in Mexican baseball history, Hector Espino
was known as "The Babe Ruth of Mexico" during his 24-year career.
Playing in the Mexican League primarily for Monterrey or Tampico between 1962
and 1984, the right-handed Espino retired as minor league baseball's all-time
home run king with 484 (453 in the LMB). He led the LMB in homers four times,
including a career-high 46 for the Sultanes in 1964. The 5'10" 192-pounder
from Chihuahua also drove in 1,573 runs in his LMB career and hung up his
spikes with a cool .335 batting mark. He hit better than .300 every year but
one in the Liga between 1962 through 1980, winning three straight batting titles
between 1966 and 1968 and four overall.
As a 20-year-old
outfielder, Espino broke into pro ball in 1960 with San Luis Potosi in the
Class A Mexican Center League and
pounded pitchers for a .363
batting average with 20 homers and 60 RBI’s in 63 games that year. After an
abbreviated season with SLP in 1961, he broke into the Mexican League with
Monterrey in 1962. Espino blasted his
way to a .358 average with 23 homers and led the Liga with 106 runs and 105 RBI’s. Although he missed a chunk of the following
season, playing just 99 games, he still belted 24 homers and drove in 80 runs
en route to a .346 average for the Sultanes in 1963.
He shifted from the
outfield to first base in 1964 for what proved to be his greatest season, just
missing the LMB Triple Crown with a Liga-best .371 average, a career high 46
homers (also tops in Mexico) and 117 RBI’s, drawing interest from major league
teams. St. Louis finally won the bidding
war for his contract from Monterrey.
Espino played briefly
for the Cardinals' AAA farm team in Jacksonville at the end of the 1964 season.
He hit well (batting .300 with three homers in 32 games), but his time in the
International League was not pleasant.
Playing during the Civil Rights era with home games in Florida and road
trips to such Southern cities as Richmond and Atlanta, the proud Espino was
reportedly so offended by the racism he encountered while playing in the IL
that he went home to Mexico during season and never returned to play in the
United States again despite several offers over the years.
His return to Mexico in
1965 was abbreviated (.335/17/48 in 67 games), but he reeled off the first of
four consecutive standout seasons in Monterrey in 1966, winning one of three
straight batting crowns (.369) and clubbing 31 homers. He then led the Liga with a career-best .379 (including
34 homers) in 1967, then hit .365 and led the LMB with 27 roundtrippers for
1968. Espino fell to .304 in 1969 but
led the Liga again with 37 homers. After
a subpar (for him) 1970, he was dealt to the Tampico Alijadores in 1971.
Over eight seasons in
Tampico (with short stops at Mexico City and Tabasco in 1975), Espino batted
.335 with 159 homers and 600 RBIs. Starting in 1979, he embarked on a an
odyssey, playing for six different teams in three seasons before returning to
Monterrey as a part-timer in 1982. After
hitting .220 with one homer in 20 games in 1984, the 45-year-old Espino retired
in July of that season.
His record in winter ball was also impressive.
In 24 Mexican Pacific League seasons (all with Hermosillo), he won an amazing
13 batting titles and six home run crowns en route to a career average of .329
with 299 homers and 1,029 RBIs while leading the Naranjeros to Mexico's first
Caribbean Series win in 1976 and playing in six tournaments overall. A six-time
LMP MVP, Hermosillo's ballpark was renamed after him while he was still an
active player. Espino was inducted as a
member of the Salon de Fama in 1988 and is also enshrined in the Caribbean
Baseball Hall of Fame. In all, he blasted a combined 4,576 hits with 752 homers
with 2,602 playing year-round in both the Liga and Mex Pac.
Hector Espino (who passed away at 58 in 1997) was beloved by fans across Mexico because he combined his great skills in baseball with a pride and loyalty to his country to become the face of Mexican baseball for two decades. He was a true national hero and his number 21 has been retired by all Mexican professional teams.
