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NACO, Sonora, Mexico — On the surface, Friday night’s semipro baseball matchup between the Bisbee Kings and the Naco Aguilas seemed to present the perfect convergence of sport and politics.
After all, just within the previous month, Naco residents had joined a one-day pro-immigrant boycott by refusing to shop in the United States, President George W. Bush had announced he was sending National Guard troops to the border, and the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps had begun building a border barrier just down the road in Palominas.
Now, with Bisbee’s brand-new baseball squad headed south across the border to Naco, it seemed like conditions were ripe for a local adaptation of the U.S.-Soviet Olympic ice hockey showdown of 1980, or perhaps the 1986 World Cup soccer semifinal between Argentina and England played in the aftermath of the Falklands War.
 Former Bisbee High School and present Bisbee Kings player Angel Encinas greets Naco veteran ballplayer Ramon Montano Lares prior to Friday’s exhibition game to benefit the Naco, Sonora, Little League. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
There was just one problem: none of the participants — not the Mexican players, not the American players and not the 300 or so fans gathered at Naco Municipal Stadium — seemed even remotely interested in politics.
“We’re not thinking about George Bush, we’re thinking about Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols,” said Aguilas outfielder Ram—n Montano. “Sure, it gives us extra motivation to play against a team from the United States, but that’s only because everyone knows that that’s where the highest level of baseball is played.”
Kings head coach Butch Hammett also minimized the political implications of the game.
“I don’t see it as a border issue, and I don’t know that my players think much about the international part of it,” he said. “I don’t believe that any border or line separates baseball.”
And so, instead of nationalistic heckling from fans, patriotic flag-waving or bench-clearing brawls, three generations of border families filled the stands to chat and cheer as a bunch of guys from two baseball-loving communities engaged in a friendly seven innings of play.
Perhaps it was the charitable nature of the contest that helped to keep emotions in check. The game, after all, was staged to raise money to help Naco Little Leaguers travel to the Sonora state tournament.
Or maybe, as Naco, Ariz., resident Sandra Bernal explained, cross-border relationships simply triumphed over international tension.
“It doesn’t matter that there’s a border wall,” she said. “Everybody here knows each other and grew up together.”
A quick glance at the two teams’ rosters was enough to prove her point.
The Kings’ lineup featured guys like first baseman Sergio D‡vila of Douglas, third baseman Tad Hammett of Bisbee and pitcher-outfielder çngel Encinas of Naco, Ariz., all of whom grew up shuttling back and forth across the border for ball games with and against some of the Aguilas players.
For their part, the Aguilas featured no less than five current or former Bisbee High School standouts, including outfielder Lu’s Padilla, who, to blur distinctions even further, wore his red “Bisbee” jersey during Friday’s game.
Padilla’s fan contingent featured an array of relatives from both sides of the border, including his father, Jos/ Lu’s Padilla, of Naco, Ariz., and grandfather, Rafael Morales, of Naco, Sonora. The two men proudly informed all within earshot that Lu’s would be traveling to Phoenix the following day for an Arizona high school all-star game.
The younger Padilla’s maternal grandparents, Raquel Urias and Manuel Valdez, of Naco, Sonora, were there as well, and while they swore their loyalties to the Aguilas on this night, Urias said her allegiance stemmed from family rather than national ties.
“If (Lu’s) were playing for Bisbee, I would be rooting for Bisbee,” she said. “After all, he’s my grandson.”
On the Kings’ side, perhaps none of the players embodied cross-border baseball more than Sandra Bernal’s nephew, Louie Bernal, a former Bisbee High star and one-time prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers minor league system.
Bernal’s grandfather, Dagoberto Bernal, served as the manager of the Aguilas during the 1940s, back in the days before Naco Municipal Stadium had light towers, grass, or even bleachers.
“Back then, you could pay for a parking spot for the season and drive your car right onto the field,” recalled Dagoberto’s widow, Mary Ann Bernal, of Naco, Ariz.
With her family’s baseball tradition strong in her mind, Mary Ann said the Aguilas-Kings matchup was especially emotional for her.
“I wish my husband could have seen Louie play, and I wish he could have been here to see this stadium,” she said. “He loved baseball.”
Dagoberto Bernal, a legendary catcher in Sonoran baseball lore, was killed in 1968 in an accident at the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee. He was buried in Naco, Sonora, across the street from a youth baseball field. Mary Ann recalled how Louie used to cross the border to play at the field, and afterward, stop by the cemetery to visit his grandfather’s grave.
Prior to Friday’s game, both Coach Hammett and Kings General Manager Bob Lipp spoke metaphorically of the game’s potential for tearing down walls. Certainly, that was the case for Vicky Kimzey of Willcox, whose son, Jason, pitches for the Kings. She made her first-ever trip to Mexico to see the game.
Kimzey admitted that media reports of border crime had made her “scared to death” to cross the international boundary. Once at the Naco ballpark, she felt a bit more relaxed, though still unsure of her role as an opposing fan.
“I don’t know what you’re supposed to do and what you’re not supposed to do,” she said. “So I’m just keeping quiet.”
Still, despite her insecurity, Kimzey was also finding a lot to her liking.
“It’s nice how people come to the game as a whole family,” she said. “It just seems like a really family-oriented place.”
She even ventured to try a 10-peso “cocktel de elote,” a stew of corn, mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chili.
“I’m not exactly sure what it is, but it’s not bad,” she said as she tasted a spoonful of the mixture.
The game itself was a closely contested, albeit sloppily played, affair until Bisbee broke loose for a five-run rally in the top of the sixth inning.
After the game, a 12-7 victory for the visitors, Aguilas outfielder Montano expressed disappointment at the loss and frustration with his own performance at the plate.
Yet in the end, he said he was leaving the park in a positive state of mind.
“We came to have fun with our friends from the United States,” he said. “And that’s what we did.”
And while it would have been impossible for the first chapter of the home-and-home series to completely avoid border politics — Aguilas manager Liborio Molina acknowledged before the game that he had to cut four players from his roster when they didn’t have the visa needed to travel to next Friday’s rematch in Bisbee — it was still an event dominated by goodwill.
“Maybe if the game were played in (interior Mexico), there would be some tension,” Molina said. “But here on the border, we generally have a good feeling about the other side.”
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Jonathan Clark can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathan.clark@bisbeereview.net.
nicole ray wrote on Jun 21, 2009 3:35 PM: