Early baseball in Mexico/Game 1
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| Spread of baseball: Home -> Mexico -> Early baseball in Mexico/Game 1 |
| Location | Mexico |
|---|---|
| Year | 1877 |
| Country | Mexico |
| Was NY rules baseball | Unknown |
| Played by | Non-locals |
"There is convincing documentation that sailors from an American ship (the Montana) docked at Guaymas in 1877 and staged a baseball contest witnessed by local residents. . . . it was not long before there were even reports of local youngsters forming a baseball team of their own."
A second 1877 claim: "At Neuvo Laredo, a rustic setting close to the US border, it was American railroad construction bosses rather than American sailors who reportedly imported the game. . . . A pair of local nines were quickly formed (as legend has it) and the date reported for a first game staged between them is tradionally given as 1877."
These are not the only origins stories. One is that Cuban immigrants brought along baseball equipment in 1890. A "Mexico" ball club is said to have been founded in Mexico City in 1887. The first documented game was played in July 1889 in Nuevo Leon.
Peter C. Bjarkman, Diamonds Around the Globe (Greenwood Press, 2005), pages 267-268.
