STATE GOVERNMENT BARS CHARROS FROM BALLPARK

Estadio Charros in 2019

    Much attention over the past few months has been given to whether or not the Mexican League expansion club Guadalajara Mariachis would be allowed to play their home games at Estadio Charros in neighboring Zapopan, a bizarre turn of events has led to the team that owns the facility bearing their name was recently denied entry to the ballpark by the Jalisco state government.

    After front office staff of the Mexican Pacific League's Jalisco Charros were turned away at the entry gates by State officials, the government released a statement that read, “It is not an eviction. Under the Code, administrators of the site and the State Government took possession of the property to supervise and review its infrastructure.”

    After an ownership group led by Armando Navarro and Salvador Quirarte bought the LMP's Guasave Algodoneros franchise in April 2014, they moved the team into the 8,500-seat Estadio Panamericano, which had been built to host baseball and track & field events during the 2011 Pan American Games. Remodeling was performed that summer to include the expansion of permanent seating to 11,500 spectators in time for the renamed Charros' inaugural 2014-15 season. Another stadium remodel in 2015 increased capacity once again to 13,000 seats while a third renovation in 2017 brought capacity up to its present 16,000 seats in order to accommodate both the 2018 Caribbean Series and the 2019 World Baseball Classic. In all, 705 million pesos (US$35 million) in State money has been invested in the stadium's construction and renovation costs.

Estadio Panamericano in 2011

    While the stadium is named after the Charros, who are in charge of the facility (including maintenance and upkeep), it is owned by the State of Jalisco. The statement from the government also read that “It is important to remember that at this time, it is the off-season of the Mexican Pacific League (LMP), a competition in which the Jalisco Charros participate. Therefore, there is no right to use the stadium at this time.” If the statement is taken at face value, the State is keeping the Charros out while they inspect the ballpark structurally while also announcing that an official record will be drawn up regarding the events that are being carried out there.

    However, one prominent Mexican baseball writer appears skeptical that those are the only factors in the Charros' being barred from the ballpark. Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros called the move an “eviction” and that it was related to the ongoing legal dispute between the aforementioned Navarro and Quirarte. The latter was dismissed from the organization last November amid allegations of financial irregularities in his role as team president, and lawyers for both men have since hurled brickbats at each other in dueling press conferences. The dispute appears headed for a courtroom and has hurt the image of both the Charros and the league.

WOMAN DEBUTS IN TOP SINALOA MEN'S SEMIPRO LEAGUE

RHP Rosi del Castillo

    A star pitcher on Mexico's Women's National Baseball Team made her debut Sunday in the Clemente Grijalva League, a fast-paced semipro circuit one month into its 64th season in Sinaloa. Rosi del Castillo started for the VP El Fuerte squad against Ejido Mexico Abarroteros in Los Mochis, going 2.1 innings and allowing two runs on one hit and three walks with one strikeout before exiting the contest with a blister on the middle finger of her pitching hand.

    Del Castillo became part of Mexican baseball history when she tossed five innings of hitless ball in Mexico's 16-0 no-hit win over Nicaragua at the Pan Am Women's Baseball Championship on August 18, 2019 at Aguascalientes' Estadio Alberto Romo Chavez in what was the international debut for both teams. She won awards for Best Starter, Most Wins and Lowest ERA as Mexico went on to qualify for the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup, which will hopefully be played later this year in Tijuana.

    Although she's gained some notoriety pitching in the women's game, del Castillo is no stranger to men's baseball. The 23-year-old right-hander from Puebla, who's been clocked at 78 MPH on the radar gun, pitched for the four-time champion Dolores Hidalgo Rookies in a Puebla men's league as a teen and also has spent 2015 and 2016 in the Yucatan-based Meridan League semipro circuit with the Tamanche Azulejos under manager Oswaldo Morejon, a former Mexican League infielder. Although del Castillo has almost only been the only female in any men's league she's played in, she's never been intimidated.

Del Castillo with 2019 awards

    Del Castillo told Linea Directa writer Armando Baldenebro prior to her first LCG start last weekend that she hopes to get support while encouraging other women ballplayers. “Well, I hope they support me a lot,” she said with a laugh, “and for my part I'm going to leave everything on the field. I want to play a good role to all those people who like baseball and, more than anything else, to continue inspiring the girls to practice this sport because we too can play it.”

    She described her pitching style as “passionate, dedicated and very disciplined. I feel that on the mound, I'm very calm. I like to always keep the rhythm of the game in each pitch more than anything and, well, always enjoy being there on top of the mound.”

    As one of Mexico's top semipro loops, the Clemente Grijalva League has eleven teams playing five games every Sunday (with one bye) and features many ex-pros as well as current professional players making unpaid appearances in the league in order to stay sharp for the upcoming Mexican League season. Two Guadalajara Mariachis veterans, Saul Soto and Jesse Castillo, have played this spring, as has longtime LMB third baseman Abel Martinez. Former major league pitcher Luis Ayala won his club's opening game on April 11 by a 5-2 score, with Ayala tossing five innings of four-hit ball and belting a homer en route to driving in all five of his team's runs.

LMP PRESIDENT CANIZALES REVIEWS DIFFICULT 2020-21 SEASON

Mex Pac president Omar Canizales

    Although the Mexican Pacific League and its predecessors have experienced hard times over 76 years as the country's leading winterball circuit, it's hard to imagine any of them being more difficult to navigate than a 2020-21 season that saw empty stands, game postponements and a work stoppage all caused by the Wuhan virus.

    LMP president Omar Canizalez, who just concluded his 12th season at the helm of the 10-team league, was interviewed by Septima Entrada's Carlos Meza Banuelos after the conclusion of the Caribbean Series in Mazatlan. The following is an edited Google translation:

    How did the Mex Pac do in the face of challenges brought on by the pandemic as well as changes in broadcasts of LMP games via SKY Sports of England?

    "I catalog it as extraordinarily positive. When so many leagues in the world could not carry out their tournaments while the scenarios were so uncertain, the fact that the 10 organizations of the league were able to conclude the season is a great achievement as was still receiving an international event like the Caribbean Series. I consider it extraordinarily positive.”

    On November 6, play was suspended in the league schedule for 11 days. Was it the breaking point of the LMP?

    "The uncertain scenarios and lack of knowledge about the virus taught us that, despite the protocol of more than 108 pages, that doing a weekly PCR was not enough. We had to find a test that gave the best results sooner. When we understood that this was happening, we stopped the league and we cut the chain of contagion. The decision to have stopped was the best. It was not on our stage, but it was key to concluding the season successfully.”

    What is the infection report?

    "We are collecting those reports. We have a general one, but there are many missing. In the last report, we had around 2,700 tests at the end of the season but the playoff results are missing."

Sparse attendance in Culiacan

    Was it the hardest year ever at LMP?

    "As far as I can remember, it was the most difficult, definitely. I do not have very distant information about any other situation that has put playing at risk and we have been playing continuously for 76 years. In economic terms, in losses that we ended up having, we expected lower losses. As we were not aware of the virus, we hoped that in October it would have already dropped to give the possibility of filling a quarter of the stadium in all the ballparks, but finally it could not be done in six of the ten ballparks."

    What did the year leave to improve for 2021-2022?

    "It left us many things to learn, such as the opportunity to make costs more efficient; and not necessarily to do everything in person. We understand that in the face of complicated scenarios, if we stick together, we can move forward with whatever challenge we face, strengthening relationship between players and management.

    “With the great effort that was made, plus the possibility of improving the topics of the broadcasts, there are always many things to improve.”