Thousands of articles!
B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
October 09, 2 0 1 7
Mexican
Baseball Road Trip: Tucson, Arizona
Mexican Baseball Fiesta
Day 1 - October 6, 2017
Day 2 - October 7, 2017
Day 3 - October 8, 2017
Tucson
Mexican Baseball Fiesta: Day Four Report
It’s Monday
morning, which means it’s time to finish packing
my bag, check out, head to Tucson International Airport and fly back to
Portland so I can drive home to the small town my wife Linda and I live
in
halfway between Portland and Seattle.
The Mexican Baseball Fiesta concluded Sunday as the Mexicali
Aguilas
bombed the Obregon Yaquis 15-5 in the opener and the Hermosillo
Naranjeros
topped the Los Mochis Caneros, 7-2, in the second game, marking the
last of
four days and four doubleheaders at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium with
four
Mexican Pacific League teams providing the centerpiece to a weekend of
entertainment. Although I began these
missives with game reports that were drier than the Arizona air, I
finally
realized that I was missing the point: The MBF is more about attitude
and
atmosphere than balls and strikes. It
was worth the trip on a number of levels.
Before I go any
further, I should mention that THIS
particular missive was intended for a Tuesday posting because I spent
Sunday
afternoon and evening moving around Kino Stadium with a camera instead
of my
Chromebook to take photos of numerous things to augment the Day Three
Report. There is only so much a word
picture can do for a reader, so I thought I’d give both my fingers and
your
sense of delirium from reading my text a break and despite having
almost zero
experience as a photog, I came away with what I think are 14 or 15
pretty good
pictures to share. Unfortunately, my
Kodak C195 camera and Chromebook aren’t playing nice with each other so
I’ll
have to wait to get home and use another laptop so I can post the
pictures
Tuesday instead. Sigh.
If you're wondering why I have no game
reports today, there you are. Consider
it a blessing barely disguised.
Traveling to
Tucson was not necessary, but I decided a few
weeks ago that it would be a good chance to watch some of the teams and
players
I’ve been writing about off and on about since April 2005, when I
covered the
Mexican League for the OurSports Central website. It
was only going to be for that one season
but, obviously, it’s lasted a little longer than that.
So I finally got to watch Mexican players
like Pablo Ortega, Carlos Gastelum, Luis Alfonso Garcia, Carlos
Valencia and
Sergio Contreras, who were all active in 2005 when I first started
writing
about Mexican baseball along with others who’ve made their marks in
recent
years such as Jose Amador, Javier Solano, C.J. Retherford and Jason
Bourgeois. As a baseball fan, it was a
blast seeing guys I’d heretofore only read and written about over the
past
dozen years and I was rarely disappointed. These are good ballplayers,
many of
whom have played in the majors.
After a little
initial confusion when I first arrived at Kino
Veterans Memorial Stadium last Thursday, I was able to get my media
credential
and attendant lanyard and headed up to the press box for my first night
of
covering Mexican baseball in person. At
this point, I should say that Kino Stadium is a very nice facility,
definitely
AAA in quality. I was able to get a good
location next to a television booth and did my writing on the first two
nights
from that vantage point. There isn’t a
traditional roof over the main grandstand, so the press box is set
above the
concourse running behind the box seats behind home plate and above the
concessions stands, meaning you’re set farther back from the playing
field than
the old-school press boxes you see atop grandstand roofs in older
ballparks.
As far as
attendance goes, I often saw what might be 200
people sprinkled through Kino Stadium at the start of the opening games
(which
always featured the champion Mexicali Aguilas throughout the weekend),
with the
stands filling gradually as the second game approached.
Saturday night’s game between rivals
Hermosillo and Obregon was easily the best-attended, with what I’d
guesstimate
as at least 5,000 people in the ballpark.
While play was
going on, there were plenty of other things
for attendees to take part in. While an
actual ballgame in Mexico isn’t all that much different from what
you’ll see in
the States, the presentation in the stands can be a little different. While there was music pumped through the PA
system throughout all the games, much like in the USA, the music
consisted
mostly of Mexican artists (as you’d expect) while English was rarely
heard over
the loudspeakers, mainly when “The Star-Spangled Banner” was sung.
What REALLY
separated things were the live bands that would
play after the games on the concourse next to the main grandstand on
the
first-base side. Although teams in
the
States often do a good job of creating a festive atmosphere during
ballgames,
they’ve got nothing on our neighbors south of the border.
These folks know how to enjoy themselves. I’m
hoping that more Tucsonans catch on to
the Mexican Baseball Fiesta in the future because it goes beyond
baseball and
is well worth attending.
All in all, I’m
glad I was able to make it down to Tucson to
watch players I’ve become more familiar with over the years than their
MLB
counterparts in an atmosphere that reflects the culture of people who
like to
have a good time and know how to do it.
Thanks to MBF co-founder and president Mike Feder for giving me
press
credentials so I could come in and describe this event to Baseball
Mexico’s
readers and a special thanks to Steve Rivera, a writer for the
AllSportsTucson
website and all-around good guy, for giving me a lift back to the
Quality Inn I
was staying at after the games. And
kudos to the people in Tucson I had the chance to meet the past four
days, from
cab drivers to Quality Inn employees and the great staff at Kino
Stadium. I can truthfully say that I
didn’t meet one
crabby person here in Tucson and that reflects well on the city. It’s a nice place to visit.
But now it’s time to head home, where I can
hopefully get those promised photos online Tuesday.
Then there are
those Mexican Pacific League season openers
next weekend to gear up for. As I’ve
said many times before, Mexico represents Baseball Heaven because
there’s never
an offseason and I’m glad I was able to indulge in a slice of it this
weekend.
