Latin American leagues
Beisbol:
El Pasatiempo Inter-nacional

Also see the Latin American sports page.

Baseball in Latin America

There is no doubt that soccer (or "futbol" in Spanish) is the most popular sport in Latin America, as in most of the world. Yet baseball (or "beisbol" in Spanish) is the number one sport in much of the Caribbean basin. Baseball spread to other countries in the early 20th century as U.S. imperial power spread out across the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Wherever U.S. cultural influence has been strongest, baseball has become more popular in Latin America. Indeed, in many cases baseball was introduced during U.S. military occupation. Fidel Castro is an avid baseball fan and once played himself. (If Fidel Castro had had better luck with his baseball career, the history of the Cold War might have turned out much differently!) Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez fled Cuba in 2000 and became a New York Yankee. It's one of the clearest examples of Latin America's "love-hate" relationship with the "Colossus of the North." Today roughly 30 percent of major league players come from Latin America, or are descendants of Latino families who grew up in the United States. Many of them supplement their earnings by playing "winter league" ball in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. Baseball is also enormously popular in Cuba, and is making inroads into Central and South America.

Each year the baseball-playing nations of the Caribbean send their respective champion teams to represent their nations in the Caribbean World Series. This international event began in 1949. A table showing the champions for each year since then (except 1981, when it was not held) can be found at latinobaseball.com.

In March 2006 the first "World Baseball Classic" championship was held, with games in the U.S.A., Puerto Rico, and Japan. Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela were each represented, but not Nicaragua. After some haggling, Cuba was allowed to participate. Japan emerged triumphant, to the surprise of many.

Also see the Mexico background information page.

Mexican League (AAA rated)

Season: March - August. Mexico is distinguished by having its top-level baseball league play during the summer months. Some aging North American major league players continue their careers in Mexico, and some of them (most notably, Julio Franco) manage to return to the big leagues.

North Zone

City	Team	Stadium
Monclova	Acereros del Norte
Mexico City	Diablos Rojos del Mexico	Foro Sol
Saltillo	Saraperos	Parque Francisco I. Madero
Monterrey	Sultanes	Estadio Monterrey
La Laguna	Vaqueros
Nuevo Laredo	Tecolotes
Reynosa	Broncos
Chihuahua	Dorados

South Zone

City	Team	Stadium
Minatitlan	Petroleros	.
Oaxaca	Guerreros	Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos (BEEN THERE)
Cancun	Tigres de Quintana Roo	.
Merida	Leones de Yucatan	.
Villahermosa	Olmecas de Tabasco	.
Campeche	Piratas	.
Veracruz	Rojos del Aguila	.
Puebla	Pericos	.

FAN TIP: Juan Martínez Miguel Ramírez

Mexican Winter League

All the franchises are based in small towns in northwestern Mexico.

City	Team	Stadium
Culiacan	Tomato Growers
Guasave	Cottoners
Hermosillo	Orange Growers
Mazatlan	Deer
Mexicali	Eagles
Los Mochis	Sugarcane Growers
Navojoa	Mayos
Obregon	Yanquis

Best-known players:

• Luis Ayala
• Jorge Cantu
• Vinny Castilla
• Esteban Loaiza
• Rodrigo Lopez
• Fernando Valenzuela *

* retired

WEB LINKS: Liga Mexicana de Beisbol; Ron Mader's Unusual Mexico Links; Liga del Pacifico (Winter League)

Puerto Rican League

Season: November through January. In recent years, franchises in Puerto Rico have been shuffled around the island's cities like a game of musical chairs. This table only shows current information (as of 2004-2005) and is subject to revision. Ballparks in Puerto Rico are quite modern, by and large, typically one deck with a large roof and ample foul territory. Most of them have artificial turf, which gets extremely hot in the tropical sun. One exception is J.R. Loubriel Stadium, former home of the Bayamon Vaqueros (Cowboys), who relocated to San Juan and became the Santurce Cangrejeros (Crabbers) in 2003.

Puerto Ricans were initially thrilled by the arrival of Major League Baseball, as the Montreal Expos played 22 of their "home" games in San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium in 2003 and 2004. Crowds at Estadio Hiram Bithorn steadily dwindled from a packed house of 20,000 to 10,000 or less, however, not much more than in Montreal. The franchise moved permanently to Washington, D.C. in 2005, becoming the Nationals.

City	Team	Stadium
Santurce	Cangrejeros (Crabbers)	Estadio Hiram Bithorn
Caguas	Criollos (Creoles)	Parque Yldefonso Sola Morales
Carolina	Giants	Estadio Roberto Clemente
Mayaguez	Indios (Indians)	Estadio Isidoro Garcia
Ponce	Leones (Lions)	Estadio Francisco Montaner
Manati	Atenienses (Athenians)	Estadio Roman Melendez

Best-known players

• Hiram Bithorn *
• Orlando Cepeda *
• Roberto Clemente *
• Jose Vidro *
• Bernie Williams *
• Ivan Rodriguez *
• Carlos Delgado
• Carlos Beltran (STL)
• Juan Gonzalez
• Javy Lopez
• Yadier Molina
• Jorge Posada (NYY)
• Jose Valentin
• Javier Vazquez

*: retired

WEB LINKS: Liga de Beisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico; Charlie's Puerto Rican baseball page

Also see the Dominican Republic background information page.

Dominican Republic League

Season: October - February. Baseball has had a huge economic and cultural impact has on the Dominican Republic, which is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. A 2003 study commissioned by MLB estimated that baseball adds $76 million to the country's economy every year, via MLB players' salary remittances, farm club operations, and various charity/development projects. These baseball activities create an estimated 1,200 jobs, altogether. (Washington Post, July 25, 2003) When Hurricane Georges struck in 1998, national hero Sammy Sosa played a leading role in the relief and recovery effort.

City	Team	Stadium
Santiago	Cibao Aguilas (Eagles)	Estadio Cibao
La Romana	Este Azucareros (Sugarcane growers)
Santiago	Cibao Gigantes (Giants)	Estadio Cibao
Santo Domingo	Escogido Leones (Lions)	Estadio Quisqueya
San Pedro de Macoris	Oriente Estrellas (Eastern Stars)	Estadio Tetelo Vargas
San Francisco de Macori	Licey Tigres (Tigers)

Dominican Republic Summer League

Season: June - August. The Dominican Republic's Summer League was founded in 1985, and has grown to include 34 teams.

As of 2000, 71 of the 839 players in the major leagues were natives of the Dominican Republic.

Best-known players:

• Felipe Alou *
• Matty Alou *
• Moises Alou *
• George Bell *
• Tony Peña *
• Julio Franco *
• Juan Marichal *
• Bartolo Colon
• Juan Encarnacion
• Tony Fernandez
• Jose Guillen
• Pedro Martinez *
• Jose Lima
• Raul Mondesi
• Manny Ramirez
• Rafael Furcal (STL)
• Vladimir Guerrero (BAL)
• David Ortiz (BOS)
• Robinson Cano (NYY)
• Albert Pujols (LAA)
• Aramis Ramirez
• Hanley Ramirez (MIA)
• Sammy Sosa *?
• Alfonso Soriano
• Jose Reyes (MIA)
• Miguel Tejada
• Melky Cabrera (SF)
• Nelson Cruz (TEX)

*: retired

SOURCE: Washington Post Magazine, March 11, 2001

WEB LINKS: Dominican Baseball; DRBaseball.org; Dominican Summer League; Dominican Republic baseball blog.

Also see the Venezuela background information page.

Venezuelan Winter League

Year introduced: 1895. The general strike launched by opponents of President Hugo Chavez resulted in cancellation of most of the 2002-2003 winter baseball season in Venezuela.

City, Province	Team	Stadium
Maracay, Aragua	Tigres (Tigers)
Caracas	Leones (Lions)
La Guaira, port of Caracas	Tiburones (Sharks)
Barquisimeto, Lara	Cardenales (Cardinals)
Magallanes (Caracas)	Navegantes (Navigators)
Araure, Portuguesa (Los Llanos / Occidente)	Pastora (Shepherdess)
Puerto La Cruz, Anzoategui (Oriente)	Caribes (Caribbeans)
Maracaibo, Zulia	Aguilas (Eagles)

Venezuelan Summer League

Consists of minor league players. Each of the teams (nine, presently) is affiliated with an North American major league franchise.

Best-known players:

• Bobby Abreu *
• Luis Aparicio *
• Tony Armas
• Miguel Cabrera (DET)
• Miguel Cairo
• Alfonso (Chico) Carrasquel *
• Andres Galarraga *
• Carlos Guillen
• Omar Vizquel
• Magglio Ordoñez
• Johan Santana (NYM)
• Carlos Zambrano (MIA)
• Elvis Andrus (TEX)
• Pablo Sandoval (SF)
• Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez (MIL)

* (retired)

WEB LINKS: Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional (Winter League); Venezuelan Summer League

Also see the Cuba background information page.

Cuba

Regular season (varies): October - March. Talk about a love-hate relationship! Professional baseball had a long and proud history in Cuba, but came to an end in 1961, as Castro's revolution took a sharp turn toward Marxism. In 1996 the Cuban national baseball team won the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta, but several of its players defected, including Livan Hernandez. His half-brother, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez managed to escape in 2000, and signed a contract with the Yankees. In March 1999 the Baltimore Orioles created a controversy by playing an exhibition game at the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana. Distinguished by the inclined light towers that surround the field, it was originally built in 1946 and was expanded to seat 55,000+ in 1971. Below are listed the 16 amateur teams that play in Cuba.

BOOKS: Roberto Gonzalez Echeverria, The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999)

Zona Occidental (West) Group A	Zona Occidental (West) Group B	Zona Oriental (East) Group C	Zona Oriental (East) Group D
Pinar del Rio	Isla de la Juventud (ex- Isla de Pinos)	Metropolitanos (Havana City)	Matanzas
Industriales (Havana City)	Habana	Cienfuegos	Sancti Spiritus
Villa Clara	Camaguey	Ciego de Avila	Las Tunas
Santiago de Cuba	Granma	Guantanamo	Holguin

Best-known players

• Orestes (Minnie) Miñoso *
• Zoilo Versalles *
• Tony Oliva *
• Camilo Pascual *
• Luis Tiant *
• Jose Canseco *
• Livan Hernandez (ATL)
• Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez *
• Aroldis Chapman (CIN)

*: retired

SOURCE: USA Today Baseball Weekly, March 24-30, 1999

WEB LINKS: www.cubanball.com; www.ericenders.com; baseballguru.com

Also see the Nicaragua background information page.

Nicaraguan League

Like Cuba, Nicaragua's passion for baseball is interwoven with its past experience with U.S. military intervention, creating a stronger-than-average love-hate relationship. The country's economy suffered terribly as a result of the long civil war between the Sandinistas and the U.S.-supported "contras" in the 1980s, and much rebuilding needs to be done. As a result, professional baseball has a precarious status here, and the roster of teams often fluctuates from one year to the next.

City	Team	Stadium
Managua	Boer (name of Indian tribe)	Estadio Dennis Martinez (BEEN THERE)
Leon
Chinandega
Masaya

Best-known players:

• Vincente Padilla
• Dennis Martinez *

*: retired

WEB LINKS: www.cubanball.com; www.ericenders.com;

Estadio Dennis Martinez, named for Nicaragua's greatest baseball player, located about one mile west of downtown Managua. I persuaded the grounds crew to let me take a look inside, but they wouldn't let me take a photograph because they were still cleaning up a big mess left by an evangelical revival meeting that had taken place there on the previous evening. (February 2005)

Other countries

Best-known players:

• Panama: Rod Carew *
• Panama: Bruce Chen
• Panama: Carlos Lee
• Panama: Mariano Rivera
• Colombia: Edgar Renteria

*: retired