Mexico's team at the Cal Ripken tournament: international division champions.
Mexico celebrated a victory over Japan Friday to get to the final in the Cal Ripken World Series, but lost that game last night to Team USA.
The team of 12-year-old boys beat reigning champion Japan 10-7 to win the International Championship, which put them into the final for the Cal Ripken World Championship, which the U.S. team won 5-2.
The Cap Ripken series consists of two championships, the national, in which regional United States champions compete, and the international, where eight countries vie for the title. The winners of those two championships go on to play for the world title.
The event began on August 8 and wrapped up last night.
Mexico has won the world title three times, in 2003, 2004 and 2010, and placed second twice, in 2005 and 2006.
The Cal Ripken World Series is the final event of the Babe Ruth League’s Cal Ripken Major/70 Division. Teams play on a field with 70-foot base paths and a 50-foot pitching distance. Ten domestic teams and eight international teams play in the week-long event. This year was the first for Puerto Rico and New Zealand.
The Cal Ripken Major/70 Division is different from the well-known Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, as that tournament uses 46-foot pitching distances and 60-foot base paths.
The history of baseball in Mexico dates back to the 1920s and the Mexican League, but the sport didn’t really take off until 1957 when Monterrey pitcher Angel Macias, 12, threw a perfect game to win the championship for Mexico at the Little League World Series.
According to Major League Baseball, it put the sport back into the nation’s spotlight. Shortly after their victory the Mexican team enjoyed breakfast at the White House with President Dwight Eisenhower, met Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and spent a day with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The players, who became known as the Little Giants, were national heroes when they returned home, and the team was later featured in both a book and a movie. The win changed their lives.
“As a result of winning, many things changed overnight,” Macias said. “A majority of us came from economically disadvantaged areas, but a lot of doors opened for us immediately. We received high school and college scholarships to begin with, and that meant we had the opportunity to rub elbows and walk among people who were economically above us.
“I was in a school with families like the Garza-Sada who have done so much not only for Monterrey, but for all of Mexico.”
Macias went on to play professionally.
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