Troubles in Mexico stretch to MLB
Former Major League pitcher Ismael Valdez used to tell a story that sounded more like a joke than a warning.
As the story goes, Valdez was driving near his Ciudad Victoria home in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas when a band of criminals ran him off the road. The bandits drew guns and tied the pitcher’s hands behind his back.
Valdez’s mind raced. He was being robbed or kidnapped or worse.
Then one of the bandits recognized him. The gunman was a Dodgers fan. Valdez spent the next 15 minutes signing autographs and posing for photos with the assailants. They then apologized for the trouble they’d caused.
Valdez drove away unharmed. Eventually, he learned to laugh off the incident.
Nobody is laughing now.
Mexico is experiencing an unprecedented rise in crime, kidnapping and violence as drug cartels and Mexican authorities fight for control of the lucrative drug routes across the border into the United States.
The violence has affected millions on both sides of the border, who fear they could get caught in the crossfire. It’s hit home, too, with many Mexican Major League players no longer feeling safe in their own hometowns.
“The truth is that it’s pretty scary,” said Angels infielder Freddy Sandoval. “Living in Tijuana is a pretty tough place to be, and I have not gone back for the simple fact that the crime is so high. Everyone always says that if you don’t mess around with the bad guys that they won’t mess around with you, but it’s still scary. There are innocent victims all of the time, so for a lot of us, it’s hard to believe that saying.”
Mexico City’s Reforma newspaper reports that the country had 6,587 drug-related murders in 2009, up from 5,207 in ’08 and 2,275 in ’07. Drug-related violence has claimed the lives of more than 3,300 this year.
To combat the problem, Mexico president Felipe Calderon deployed 45,000 soldiers and 20,000 federal officers to the country’s most dangerous areas to take on the drug cartels. The U.S. State Department has extended its travel warnings to certain parts of Mexico until August.
Calderon is visiting with President Barack Obama this week amid concerns over the escalating drug war and recent immigration legislation in Arizona.
“It’s very hard here. It’s turning wild,” said Oscar Sanchez, a sports writer in Monterrey, Mexico. “Major League players have to keep a low-profile here. Soccer players are more recognizable, but the salaries baseball players have can make them targets.”
Players from Mexico have a deep history with the Major Leagues: since Baldomero Almada played for the Red Sox in 1933, 111 players from Mexico have played in the Majors. Opening Day rosters featured 12 Mexicans.
In the past, Mexican Major Leaguers tried to keep their salaries, addresses and number of children out of the press for security reasons. In the age of new media, that information is easily found and is also often reported by traditional media outlets.
“Unfortunately, the delinquency in Mexico is at levels that we’ve never seen,” said Royals closer Joakim Soria, who is from the state of Coahuila. “I think you have to have faith in God and belief that the country will get better. I’m proud to be 100-percent Mexican and I love my country, and when I get a chance to go back home, I go. You can’t live in fear, but you can’t pretend nothing is happening.”
The northern states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua and Baja California have suffered much of the drug-related violence. There have been public shootouts in Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales.
In February, Astros Spanish broadcaster Francisco Romero and his family were caught in gunfire at a U.S. border checkpoint in Nogales. The Romeros were unharmed, but four were killed and 17 injured in the four-minute shootout.
“The shooters were 50 yards to our right, and about 150 yards from the actual border,” he said. “The last three years, it’s something very common in that area of Nogales. You’re aware of it, but you don’t know you’re going to be in the middle of a shootout.”
Last year, Oscar Manuel Robles Arangure, father of former Major League infielder Oscar Robles, was kidnapped for a day in Tijuana. Two years ago, Padres All-Star Adrian Gonzalez, also from Tijuana, was harassed with terrorizing phone calls from Mexico but has said the threats have subsided.
“It’s not like I’m not going to go back to Tijuana, but I think everybody knows what is happening, and it’s part of what’s going on,” Gonzalez said. “You just go about your business, and if you are not doing anything wrong, you will be fine.”
Sinaloa, once famous for baseball, is now infamous as home of the most powerful and ruthless drug-trafficking organizations in the country. The Culiacan, Mazatlan, and Los Mochis baseball teams of the Mexican Pacific League all operate in the state but have not been affected by the escalating crime, according to league president Omar Canizalez.
“Mexico has been and always will be a country full of hard-working people, good people that love sports,” Canizalez said. “Unfortunately, we border a country that many people want to get drugs into. The violence a lot of times is between the people who are involved in that type of trafficking. We don’t have to be worried or be timid doing our business. We are fine.”
Dodgers pitcher Luis Ayala, who was born in Los Mochis, understandably has a different opinion. In January, Ayala and his family were held at gunpoint for 40 minutes after burglars broke into his Culiacan home. The assailants left after they realized they hit the wrong house.
“That was the scariest night of my life. We could have died over confusion,” Ayala said. “There’s just not enough security for players. That’s the biggest problem. You don’t always feel safe.”
Major League Baseball, its security department and investigative wing are all closely monitoring the activity in Mexico and working with the U.S. State Department to make sure the clubs receive the most recent travel warnings and advisories. Security assistance is provided when requested by a player or a club.
“We are very cognizant of what is happening and we make all information available to the central office and the clubs,” said Earnell Lucas, Major League Baseball’s vice president of security and facilities management. “I like to think our clubs and players are sensitive to the issues going down in parts of their countries and they are aware of what’s occurring in the world, but we still reach out to them and they reach out to us. To the extent that baseball can, we want to be a resource for safety awareness.”
Ayala now lives in an Arizona suburb. Sandoval moved from Tijuana to Arizona last winter and is trying to get his parents to join him.
“My dad comes home from work around 4 o’clock and they just stay home,” Sandoval said. “Their lifestyle has completely changed. You have to think twice before you do normal things like go out to dinner. I call home and the first thing my dad says is ‘They killed five, six, seven, eight or 15 today.’ It’s too much.”
Jesse Sanchez
