BBM EXTRA: Salon de la Fama writer Tommy Morales dies at 85

I'm going to step out of my usual third-person mode to mark the passing of a Mexican baseball writer who can only be described as "legendary," Tomas Morales, on Tuesday at age 85 following bouts with various illnesses in recent years.  Morales produced his "Tommy al Bat" column for five decades and has been a full member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame since 1990 as a writer and TV/radio commentator.  He covered many World Series and Caribbean Series since breaking in during the early 1950's en route to being considered the Dean of Mexican baseball cronistas, sharing his lifelong love of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and New York Yankees along with the game itself.  Even in declining health, the passion was always there and while there are many more honors that he picked up along the way, they by no means paint a full picture of the man.

I first became aware of Tommy Morales in 1972 at age 12 when my vacationing family took a day trip from San Diego to Tijuana, where I bought a copy of the SuperHit magazine he edited from a street newsstand.  It was my first real exposure to Mexican baseball and people like Andres Ayon, Angel Macias and, of course, Hector Espino.  Even though I couldn't read a word of the Spanish text, that magazine (which I still have) represented my first window into that world and Tommy's name was on top of a LOT of the articles.  Several years later on a one-day stay in Nogales, I picked up a copy of Hit magazine, another Tommy Morales-led production.  The names had changed but there again was that open window.  I gave no thought at the time that I would someday be writing about Mexican baseball myself, let alone that Tommy Morales would be a subscriber to both my Viva Beisbol and Baseball Mexico newsletters.  I still have a lot to learn about the game south of the border, but always realized what an honor it was to have THAT name on my list of subscribers.

Tommy reflected top American sportswriters Shirley Povich and Roger Angell in that he kept on being productive well into his eighties.  Unlike Povich or Angell, who cut back noticeably in their later years, Tommy remained productive through the Mexican League's 2017 season until his "Tommy al Bat" blog went silent.  I wondered on occasion whether he was in ill health or just mostly taking the winter off (his last entry was on January 20) up until Carlos Fragoso, a mutual friend in Mexico City who deserves huge credit himself for BBM's existence, emailed my Tuesday to let me know Tommy had passed on.  Life is funny sometimes.  As a Christian, I've been a huge Billy Graham fan for decades and always expected to cry when he passed on, but that strangely did not happen when the day arrived last week.  After Carlos' email, however, I did.  At any rate, it's tough to lose two heroes within a week of each other and neither of these men can or will be replaced.

I guess a constructive way to end this extra is to mention that while Tommy Morales is gone, there are several other excellent writers to follow Mexican baseball by.  Tommy's crown, to me, is now passed to Enrique Kerlegand (pictured left), who, like Tommy, has been chronicling the game for decades.  The two were colleagues as writers of the Mexican League's 90th anniversary book a few years ago and, also like Tommy, Enrique's passion and knowledge of baseball shines through in his own "Tiempo de Beisbol" on the Puro Beisbol website.

Kerlegand is one of a stable of excellent scribes at Puro Beisbol.  Editor Fernando Ballesteros has impressed me as perhaps the best scoop-getter in the game down there and his "Zona del Contacto" column is must reading for anyone wanting to stay current on Mexican baseball.  That's where you often will hear something first."  Kudos also to Hector Bencomo, whose "Imparable" has become one of my favorite reads, both for his sense of humor and passion for his subject.  Another very good columnist is David Braverman, whose "Out 27" is a little harder for me to access via Google Translate (my Spanish being still pretty shaky fifty-six years after picking up that copy of SuperHit), but the extra effort is almost always rewarded by insightful and thoughtful observations.  The Solo Beisbol site has some very good scribes, too, such as Gilberto Ruiz Razo ("Septima Entrada"), Jose Zazueta ("Chepe On Deck") and Dr. Tomas Lopez ("Desde La Butaca"), among others, and there's no way I could salute the leading escribars de beisbol without mentioning Beatriz Pereyra (pictured right) at Proceso, who doesn't write nearly as often about baseball as I wish she would but produces some of the best-researched and sourced  stories you'll find anywhere when she does.  I've been really impressed with her work.

You'll find links to those websites in their original Spanish in the right-hand column of this site but if you're like me and struggle to comprende, punching in their names for a Google search and then downloading the translated text is how I've been doing it for years.  Anyone familiar with going that route knows that you usually have to translate the translation and even then, you're not always sure.  Still, when you do it long enough, even though we may never fully understand and appreciate a Tommy Morales, Fernando Ballesteros or Beatriz Pereya in their native tongue, it's possible to pick up on a writer's overall style and vision with enough exposure.  In other words, sometimes you can just TELL.

And as for "Tommy al Bat" and its presence in BBM's right-hand column now that Tommy himself is gone?  I thought about that.  For about five seconds.  As long as his site and archives are online and available, there will always be a place for Tomas Morales on this site.

-Bruce

Twelve Mexicanos make MLB Opening Day rosters

When Major League Baseball opened its 2016 season this week, 12 Mexican-born players dotted team rosters.  Another 16 Mexican-Americans were listed for a total of 28 players of Mexican descent on 18 MLB teams.  Five were in uniform for the Blue Jays and another three wore Nationals togs on Opening Day.

The vast majority of Mexican big leaguers are pitchers, including such notable hurlers as Michoacan native Yovani Gallardo, a former Brewers star who signed with the Orioles in the offseason; Monclova's Joakim Soria, a two-time All-Star closer who has returned to the Royals after stints with Pittsburgh and Detroit; Culiacan-born Oliver Perez, a longtime MLBer now pitching for the Nationals; and Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna (pictured above), a 21-year-old Sinaloan whose uncle Antonio spent 11 seasons in the bigs.

A number of prominent Mexican-Americans have also made their presence felt on MLB diamonds. San Diego-born Adrian "El Titan" Gonzalez of the Dodgers is a five-time All-Star first baseman; fellow Californian Matt Garza of the Brewers was the 2008 ALCS Most Valuable Player for the Rays; and another Californian, Giants reliever Sergio Romo, has pitched for three World Series winners and pitched in the 2013 All-Star Game.

Here is a list of Mexican and Mexican-American players on MLB's 2016 Opening Day rosters (players in italics were born in the USA):

BALTIMORE (1): P Yovani Gallardo
BOSTON (1): P Noe Ramirez
COLORADO (1): P Jorge de la Rosa
HOUSTON (1): C Jason Castro
KANSAS CITY (1): P Joakim Soria
LA ANGELS (2): OF Daniel Nava, P Fernando Salas
LA DODGERS (1): 1B Adrian Gonzalez
MILWAUKEE (2): P Matt Garza, P Carlos Torres
MINNESOTA (1): P Ricky Nolasco
NY YANKEES (1): P Luis Enrique Cessa
OAKLAND (1): P Fernando Rodriguez
PHILADELPHIA (2): P David Hernandez, P Vince Velazquez
ST. LOUIS (2): IF Greg Garcia, P Jaime Garcia
SAN DIEGO (1): IF Adam Rosales
SAN FRANCISCO (1): P Sergio Romo
SEATTLE (1): P Vidal Nuno
TORONTO (5): P Jesse Chavez, P Marco Estrada, P Arnold Leon, P Roberto Osuna, P Aaron Sanchez
WASHINGTON (3): 2B Danny Espinosa, P Oliver Perez, 3B Anthony Rendon

In his Calientes Comentarios column on the Solo Beisbol website, Felipe Silva Durazo decried the lack of Mexican-born players in the majors, stating that over 20 such players were on MLB rosters in the late 1980's and early 1990's.  Silva adds that while there are more Mexicanos in AAA and likely to be called up, he also says "perhaps the much-vaunted LMB Baseball Academy is not doing its job, or perhaps the goal of the Academy is only to develop players for the LMB...In the end, it does not increase the number of Mexicans in the big leagues."

D-backs to open own Mexican baseball academy

For years, the Arizona Diamondbacks have sought to establish a strong presence in Mexico.  However, the Phoenix-based team is planning something that neither the Los Angeles Dodgers nor San Diego Padres have done South of the border: Constructing and operating their own baseball academy for young prospects in Mexico.

While the comcept of a major league team building and running academies in Latin American countries is hardly new (the Dominican and Venezuelan landscapes are dotted with them and the great baseball movie "Sugar" opens in such a setting), the Diamondbacks will be the first to do so in Mexico.  Solo Beisbol's Roberto Espinoza reports that Hermosillo has been chosen as the site of both the academy and a D-backs' satellite office (also an MLB first).

Former big league first baseman Erubiel Durazo, a Hermosillo native, will oversee the operations in his hometown.  Durazo spent 1999 through 2002 with Arizona before playing three more seasons in Oakland, for whom he hit a combined 43 homers with 165 RBI's in 2003 and 2004 (batting .321 his second year with the A's, good for fifth in the American League).  Durazo is translated as saying, "We're making history as an organization and as a country.  With the support of Sonora governor Claudia Pavlovich, the Diamondbacks look to be a 'Mexican' team, build the country's first Academy, then go look for other states." Espinoza writes the states of Sinaloa and Nuevo Leon are being considered for future academy sites.  Former D-backs' All-Star Luis Gonzalez, now a special Adviser to team CEO Derrick Hall, has been in Hermosillo setting up shop (including the naming of scouts) in preparation for the team office and academy.

The news may not being going over well in the Mexican League offices.  The LMB has had a virtual monopoly over teenage ballplayers in Mexico for decades by signing them at an earlier age than MLB teams are able to, then retaining their rights when they become old enough to play up north.  An informal blacklist of homegrown players who circumvented the system by waiting and signing directly with MLB teams instead was lifted earlier this winter, allowing expats to play in Mexico after their days in the USA or elsewhere are over.  The LMB also operates an academy in Carmen, near Monterrey in Nuevo Leon) while a similar facility exists in Oaxaca.

MLB vets Adrian and Edgar Gonzalez, along with their father David, opened the Gonzalez Sports Academy featuring Mexican-born baseball prospects near San Diego in 2010.  Prospects who signed with MLB organizations gave the GSA a 30% commission, far less than the 70% routinely paid to LMB teams for the same thing.  The facility shut down in 2012.

SANDOVAL OUT, BUNDY IN AS HERMOSILLO SKIPPER

Something mentioned numerous times in Baseball Mexico dating back to our Viva Beisbol days is that there's nothing casual about winter baseball. While gringo players often learn the hard way that the Mexican Pacific League isn’t winter training en espanol, nobody has to remind longtime Mexican baseball people like Jose Luis Sandoval or Lorenzo Bundy (right) that the LMP isn't about "working on your game"...it's about winning.

 

Solo Beisbol writer Dr. Tomas Lopez says Sandoval, who managed Hermosillo to a last-place finish in the MexPac’s first half, received the dreaded “vote of confidence” from the Naranjeros front office on November 19, in which he was called part of a long-term building process. Hermosillo had an 11-24 first-half record (8-15 after Sandoval had replaced Delino DeShields just four weeks earlier). The reprieve lasted all of two days before Sandoval was sacked, a move that should’ve been unsurprising to Sandoval, who was released by Hermosillo during the 2010-11 season, his 21st and last as a minor league shortstop (spending all but one summer with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos between 1990 and 2011).

 

This is Mexican baseball, however, which means the change wasn’t seamless.  After the axe fell on Sandoval in Hermosillo, Bundy had to cool his heels two days waiting for the Navojoa Mayos to accept his resignation as their manager.  In Bundy’s case, a first-half record of 17-18 was likely enough to keep the executioner at bay, but the former Dodgers third base coach must prefer living dangerously.  He now becomes Hermosillo’s sixth manager since the beginning of last season after finally being introduced as the Naranjeros’ newest pilot last Tuesday.  He's been replaced in Navojoa by another veteran Mexican manager, Enrique “Che” Reyes.

For now.