enjoying two weeks off and preparing for Mexi- cali’s “While many play- ers might make $800 per month in US independent ball, they can make $2000 equivalent here in Mex- ico.” Those are the guys Gomez helps. “Let’s say there’s a
kid [playing in Mexico garnering] interest from America,” he says. “Let’s say you’re a team, the Padres, and they contact Toros about one of the players they like, say, start- ing pitcher Alex Sanabia. We ask what they want to offer. And they say, ‘We want to give him an opportunity.’ And we say, ‘That’s wonderful, what do you want to offer for the talent?’” Unlike for Japanese
talent, Major League teams do not need to bid for talking rights to access players, due to the
in the league to just have league or in a league to make money out of peo- ple?” The league is still gestating. Mexican base- ball underwent a major transformation in 2016: unlimited Mexican-Amer- icans per team. Before 2016, Liga
Mexicana de Beisbol only allowed each team to have three Mexican-Americans and six foreigners. The rest had to be Mexican citizens. Teams like Toros and
Scantily clad cheerleaders down the foul lines bump and grind during game pauses.
league’s status as a minor league affiliate. “The teams always
give a ridiculous num- ber,” he explains, “say, $2000. We counter with $200,000. They say they can get a Dominican for
$2000. They argue they’ll have to send our player to rookie ball, and they won’t see him for five years. Why would they invest $100k on a project that may or may not happen?” Gomez concludes,
“To shorten it up this is why we don’t see more Mexicans in the minor leagues and major leagues,” he says. The business side
of baseball in Mexico is tricky, he says. “Are we
RESEARCH STUDIES
Pericos de Puebla began scouting, while many other teams did not. Pooky started scouting the southwest US border areas. He’d look for former AA or AAA players now playing independent ball, and invite them to try out. “[Other teams] did
not dedicate resources to hiring a scouting team,” Gomez says. “Mexico City, Monterrey, Cancun, and
Oaxaca were complain- ing because the pool opened to sign Mexican- Americans, the ‘pochos’ they called us.” Gomez refers to a reputation Toros developed as being Mexican-Americans, for which pocho is a deroga- tory term. In 2015, the roster had
just six foreigners, includ- ing Mexican-Americans, though it’s not always cut- and-dried who’s what. In 2016, the team had fifteen Mexican-Americans, says Gomez. Most of Toros start-
ing pitching staff in 2016? Pochos. “Think about that,” Gomez says. “This time last year, the league had barely tested Mexican-Americans.” Players come to
Mexico because pay in the U.S. independent leagues — Atlantic League or American Association
18 San Diego Reader April 6, 2017
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