Baseball is a popular and well-established sport in many parts of Latin America, with men’s professional leagues existing in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, among others. But for women who wanted to play baseball’s cousin softball professionally, there was only one option left: to retire. They had to go to America or Japan.
until now.
In what is believed to be the first of its kind in Latin America, a region where men have more opportunities than women, especially in the sport, a women’s professional softball league has been launched in Mexico. When the first season began on January 25, 120 female players from six teams called themselves professional softball players, many for the first time.
“Before, there wasn’t even a question of, ‘Should there be professional sports for women?'” It was taken for granted that it didn’t exist. ” said Stefania Aradillas, an outfielder for Mexico City’s Diablos Rojos Femenil. “But we are finding our place in society, not just in sports but in all fields.”
The women’s softball venture was created by Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, the country’s nearly 100-year-old men’s professional baseball league. The regular season will continue until March 3, with the playoffs ending in mid-March.
Although it is a short season, officials and players have already expressed some expectations. A crowd of 13,408 filled Monterrey Stadium for the opening game, a record for a softball game in the Americas, and the six teams drew a total of 109,000. The league said fans were in attendance for the first four weeks.
“This project breaks down barriers,” said Adriana Perez, a Mexican-American. She leaves aside her softball practice facility in Lubbock, Texas, to coach one of the new women’s teams, the Bravas de Leon.
“This is something special for our gender,” added Yrby Alicart, a Venezuelan shortstop for another team, Charas de Jalisco Femenil.
President Horacio de la Vega, who aims to grow the Mexican men’s professional baseball league, first floated the idea of a women’s baseball or softball division at a league meeting three years ago.
Officials settled on softball because of its growing popularity, especially in the United States, where players often play in college, and its promising future in Mexico, where the national team will play for the first time at the 2021 Tokyo Games. (He finished 4th in the Olympics) as the reason. Additionally, softball leagues could bring in additional revenue since baseball fields are rarely used during the off-season.
But Dela Vega said club owners have expressed concerns about the league’s financial viability and about protecting players from sexual harassment, which is a big problem in women’s sports such as soccer and gymnastics.
So league officials spent the next two years refining the project, creating a sexual harassment protocol that included a mandatory online course for executives and coaches. Mr. DelaVega said he secured the necessary ownership approvals and major business deals, including television rights, last year.
“This is something we should have done a while ago,” Dellavega said, “but things happen for a reason and they happen at the right time.”
The strategy to create a softball league began in earnest after the launch of women’s professional soccer in Mexico in 2017, when men’s franchises launched women’s teams with the same names. But in that case, nearly all 18 soccer franchises would have established a team. Softball leagues started small.
Initially, nearly half of the men’s baseball franchises (18 at the time, 20 as of this year) expressed interest in starting a women’s softball team, Dellavega said. But after requiring interested owners to sign an initial three-year contract, the league reduced its number of clubs to six, with one club in each of the country’s three largest cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, plus León and Tabasco. , also added clubs to Veracruz.
The majority of the league’s players are from Mexico, but there are also some Mexican-Americans, Cubans, Venezuelans, and Colombians.
And most teams have a female leader. Five of her six managers are women, and three of her general managers are women.
Andrea Valdes worked in the front office of El Aguila de Veracruz baseball club, where her father is the general manager. But once the softball league was established, Valdez, 25, became Veracruz’s softball general manager.
“People always talk about men’s professional sports, but this is a huge opportunity for women to put on a show,” she said. “I love working in the field of sports and I love that I have this kind of first-of-its-kind responsibility for women.”
Some players, like Venezuela’s Alicarto, 38, and Mexico’s Aradillas, 29, who were both on the Olympic team, make a living solely from softball. Alicarte plays in Italy’s semi-professional league, and Aladillas receives commercial sponsorship. However, many of her teammates work full time at jobs unrelated to softball.
Daphne Bravo, 22, a catcher for the Mexico City team, was working at the Star Wars attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., when she heard about the new league.
After two eventful years at California State University, Dominguez Hills, Bravo had largely given up hope for her career. But last November, her mother heard about a league tryout in Mexico City, and she bought plane tickets for them both to Mexico City. After Bravo was drafted, she was given two months of unpaid leave from Disneyland to play in Mexico, bringing her monthly salary to about $3,000.
“I represent my family and I’m just proud of my family,” Bravo said. His parents were born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States.
Leon catcher Loris de la Fuente took to the field before the season, wearing a professional softball uniform, and wiped away tears in front of her sons, ages 3 and 7.
“I never thought this moment would come,” she said.
De la Fuente, 31, grew up playing softball in the neighboring state of Coahuila, representing her state in regional and national tournaments and representing Mexico in international tournaments.
After the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, she said she had to choose between attending college or focusing on softball. Usually, her dream is to win an athletic scholarship to an American university. She chose a university in Mexico, graduated and started her own family.She teaches English at the school of State of Coahuila.
For the past seven years, Ms. de la Fuente remained active in softball, playing in local recreational leagues. After being drafted, he said he would take two months of unpaid leave from school to play in the league, earn $1,000 a month and live in an apartment provided by the team.
“It’s a dream come true,” she said. “I never thought I would be able to do something like this in Mexico because there wasn’t a lot of support.”
Dela Vega said he hopes the Mexican version survives, unlike past professional softball leagues in the United States that folded. He believed it was advantageous to start small. And most teams are at least breaking even financially, he said, and the league is profitable thanks to “real appetite” from sponsors and TV networks.
“Like any big project, you’re definitely going to make mistakes and have to fix them, but that’s part of growing,” he said.
Dela Vega, who represented Mexico in the 1996 and 2000 Modern Pentathlon Olympics, said the league is designed to help Mexican athletes develop ahead of softball’s return to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He said there is a possibility that the platform could also be provided.
At the opening game in Leon, the stands were filled with people young and old. The team unveiled a new lioness mascot, and the public address announcer thanked the crowd for coming out to support the women on the field.
Montserrat Zuniga, 36, said he has been going to Leon’s men’s baseball games for two years with his 5-year-old daughter Emilia. But when the softball league started, Zuniga said her daughter asked to watch the girls’ team play. She bought Emilia a pink Brabus hat for the occasion.
“In this day and age, it makes sense to include women as well as men,” she said.