Baseball Season Begins in Nuevo León
In the presence of children from 47 out of the 51 municipalities of Nuevo León, the Little League baseball program affiliated with Williamsport started with the opening ceremony held at Estadio Monterrey.
The national director of Little Leagues, José Maiz García, reported that more than 12 thousand players will compete in this season in categories ranging from three to eighteen years old, including girls' softball teams.
Pepe Maiz stated that they currently have 68 affiliated leagues, but the number will increase to 70 next year with the inclusion of one in Santa Catarina and another one in Huinalá, in the field provided by Grupo Multimedios.
The season will be called "60-20" in celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the 1957 Children Champions and the twentieth anniversary of the world championship won by Linda Vista in 1997.
"This is the 60th anniversary of the first world championship and the 60th anniversary of Ángel Macías' perfect game, which is still the only one in the entire history of Little Leagues finals," Maiz García recalled.
"Baseball keeps growing despite having great competition from other sports, and despite the problems we sometimes face with the Federation, we continue to grow. Baseball in Williamsport continues to grow nationwide," he added.
Thousands of children paraded on the field of Palacio Sultán, in an event attended by Monterrey third baseman Agustín Murillo and catcher Arturo Rodríguez.
This year, women are integrated into the leadership of some Little Leagues, such as Liliana Suárez, president of the Contry Little League.
"Right now, we have more than 12 thousand boys and girls enrolled in our program in these 68 leagues, in all categories from three or four-year-olds to seventeen and eighteen-year-olds," said Pepe Maiz.
Among the special guests were Ángel Macías, who pitched a perfect game in the 1957 final, and Rafael Reyes Montemayor, who batted 10 hits out of 11 at-bats in his participation in the 1962 Williamsport World Series.