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jasg224 · 01-01-2025, 08:23 PM

It is said that the first baseball game in México was played by invading US soldiers in Xalapa in 1847, following the Battle of Cerro Gordo. It was during the battle when then-president Antonio López de Santa Anna lost his prosthetic wooden leg, supposedly captured by the Illinois 4th Regiment. It was then used as a bat for a game of baseball, at least according to Thomas Phillip Terry, who wrote a travel guide for México in 1909 which quickly became the guide.

Other accounts say the first game happened on the Pacific coast instead, when in 1877 sailors from the US ship "Montana" played a game between themselves on land, followed by others such as the "Newborne". Also in 1877, but in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, it was Johnny Tayson who taught his railway workers to play. In any case, the first game happened in the north and it was surely organized by a US citizen.

It was through the border that México adopted the United States' "National Pastime", and by 1887 the México Club was founded in the nation's capital. The game was quickly growing through the country with several amateur leagues forming in the first decades of the 20th century. In 1907, the World Series champions Chicago White Sox visited Mexico City to play 8 exhibition games.

I probably wouldn't be writing this up if it wasn't for two very important men. The first one was born just a couple years before the White Sox visited the country. Alejandro Aguilar Reyes was born in Mexico City in 1902, and he quickly became a prominent figure in sports journalism in the country using the pseudonym "Fray Nano". At just 23 years of age, having spent a year observing organized baseball in the United States, he approached friend and retired player Ernesto Carmona about the prospect of creating a professional league in México. "Fray Nano" served as the first commissioner, founded the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame and still found time to create both the Boxing and Wrestling Commissions.

Born in 1896, Ernesto Carmona was perhaps more important for the creation of the Mexican Baseball League. Little is known about his career as a first baseman in the amateur era of Mexican baseball, but by 1922 he was named president of the Baseball Association. As president, Carmona wrangled the existing amateur clubs, got them all to pay their fees, participate in tournaments or be kicked out. However, the Association was struggling: financial trouble as well as the growing urbanization in the city, which reduced the available spaces for play, put the game at risk. Carmona, who also owned a sporting goods store, signed a deal on a piece of land adjacent to the Colegio Franco-Inglés for 20 years, becoming the master of baseball in Mexico City. Despite investing heavily into the sport, Carmona earned the hate of journalists and club managers alike. Navigating through the obstacles, Carmona and the Mexican Baseball Federation prevailed, and the league founded in 1925 proved to be the most interesting and best managed.

In this thread, we will go over the now 100 years of pro baseball in México, simulating it in OOTP. You will see newspaper style writeups from my own research and with game stats and others happenings, stat summaries, season recaps and more. Hopefully this will do even better than my previous attempt some years ago as I have learned to use some new tools as well as researching even more to do this save. Some sections are partially inspired by luckymann and his historical replays, particularly the Red Sox one.
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Notes about the setup
- I started by creating a historical league in 1924, with "Career" as the play mode and then added on the Mexican League in the offseason
- I will add other relevant international leagues in due time, particularly the latin ones as I hope to be able to play Caribbean Series and other national team competitions
- I'm using both recalc and development engine with 1 year recalc as that's what I'll be doing manually for the Mexican League players
- I won't manipulate anything that happens in the MLB, besides deleting duplicate Mexican players and assigning the correct players to the correct teams whenever one of the 150-ish players make their MLB debut.
- I'll add rookies to the correct teams but trades will be done using the game engine. Movement between MLB and LMB will be disabled, at least early on to prevent the unrealistic signing of US free agents.
- Managers will be created accordingly from retired players or otherwise
- Most fielding ratings as well as pitching repertoires are entirely random as information of this kind is pretty much non-existent

01-01-2025, 08:23 PM	#1
jasg224 All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Guadalajara, México Posts: 571	100 Years of Pro Baseball in México It is said that the first baseball game in México was played by invading US soldiers in Xalapa in 1847, following the Battle of Cerro Gordo. It was during the battle when then-president Antonio López de Santa Anna lost his prosthetic wooden leg, supposedly captured by the Illinois 4th Regiment. It was then used as a bat for a game of baseball, at least according to Thomas Phillip Terry, who wrote a travel guide for México in 1909 which quickly became the guide. Other accounts say the first game happened on the Pacific coast instead, when in 1877 sailors from the US ship "Montana" played a game between themselves on land, followed by others such as the "Newborne". Also in 1877, but in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, it was Johnny Tayson who taught his railway workers to play. In any case, the first game happened in the north and it was surely organized by a US citizen. It was through the border that México adopted the United States' "National Pastime", and by 1887 the México Club was founded in the nation's capital. The game was quickly growing through the country with several amateur leagues forming in the first decades of the 20th century. In 1907, the World Series champions Chicago White Sox visited Mexico City to play 8 exhibition games. I probably wouldn't be writing this up if it wasn't for two very important men. The first one was born just a couple years before the White Sox visited the country. Alejandro Aguilar Reyes was born in Mexico City in 1902, and he quickly became a prominent figure in sports journalism in the country using the pseudonym "Fray Nano". At just 23 years of age, having spent a year observing organized baseball in the United States, he approached friend and retired player Ernesto Carmona about the prospect of creating a professional league in México. "Fray Nano" served as the first commissioner, founded the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame and still found time to create both the Boxing and Wrestling Commissions. Born in 1896, Ernesto Carmona was perhaps more important for the creation of the Mexican Baseball League. Little is known about his career as a first baseman in the amateur era of Mexican baseball, but by 1922 he was named president of the Baseball Association. As president, Carmona wrangled the existing amateur clubs, got them all to pay their fees, participate in tournaments or be kicked out. However, the Association was struggling: financial trouble as well as the growing urbanization in the city, which reduced the available spaces for play, put the game at risk. Carmona, who also owned a sporting goods store, signed a deal on a piece of land adjacent to the Colegio Franco-Inglés for 20 years, becoming the master of baseball in Mexico City. Despite investing heavily into the sport, Carmona earned the hate of journalists and club managers alike. Navigating through the obstacles, Carmona and the Mexican Baseball Federation prevailed, and the league founded in 1925 proved to be the most interesting and best managed. In this thread, we will go over the now 100 years of pro baseball in México, simulating it in OOTP. You will see newspaper style writeups from my own research and with game stats and others happenings, stat summaries, season recaps and more. Hopefully this will do even better than my previous attempt some years ago as I have learned to use some new tools as well as researching even more to do this save. Some sections are partially inspired by luckymann and his historical replays, particularly the Red Sox one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes about the setup - I started by creating a historical league in 1924, with "Career" as the play mode and then added on the Mexican League in the offseason - I will add other relevant international leagues in due time, particularly the latin ones as I hope to be able to play Caribbean Series and other national team competitions - I'm using both recalc and development engine with 1 year recalc as that's what I'll be doing manually for the Mexican League players - I won't manipulate anything that happens in the MLB, besides deleting duplicate Mexican players and assigning the correct players to the correct teams whenever one of the 150-ish players make their MLB debut. - I'll add rookies to the correct teams but trades will be done using the game engine. Movement between MLB and LMB will be disabled, at least early on to prevent the unrealistic signing of US free agents. - Managers will be created accordingly from retired players or otherwise - Most fielding ratings as well as pitching repertoires are entirely random as information of this kind is pretty much non-existent __________________ ¡Todos Somos Charros! 100 Years of Pro Baseball in México What if the mesoamerican ballgame turned into baseball? What if baseball began in England in the 1880s and became popular instead of football?