Professional baseball is returning to Tucson with a team from south of the border filling a void left when spring training, Triple-A baseball, the Arizona Fall League and USA Baseball left town more than a decade ago.
The Tucson Baseball Team, formerly known as Mayos de Navojoa, announced in May it would move its operation to Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, becoming the first team from the Mexican Pacific League, also known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico, based in the United States.
The Mayos played in Navojoa, Sonora, since 1959 and have two Mexican Pacific League championships.
“We want to have that vision and spread out in the community that it’s Tucson’s team,” Tucson Baseball Team owner Victor Cuevas Jr. said in a press conference at Kino Stadium on Wednesday. “We’re playing in a Mexican baseball league, but it’s Tucson’s team. We’re here to create a unique experience when Sonoran and American cultures come together through food, art and entertainment, all while enjoying high-quality baseball in a family-oriented environment.”
The Mexican Pacific League is a highly competitive professional winter baseball league in Northwestern Mexico comprised of 10 teams and features a combination of Major League Baseball players, top prospects and Mexican Baseball League players.
“We are entering in the best category of baseball that is played in Mexico, and we’re also the third largest league in the world,” Cuevas said. “So there’s MLB, then it’s Japan, and then there’s us. So I want everybody to grasp where we’re getting into.”
The Mayos had four players in major-league organizations last winter — pitchers Zach Matson (Kansas City Royals) and Denny Roman (Pittsburgh Pirates), catcher Gilbert Vizcarra (San Diego Padres) and infielder Ramón Mendoza Nevárez (St. Louis Cardinals).
Tucson Baseball Team is a placeholder for the organization until they gather community input on choosing a team name.
The season begins in October and runs through December, with playoffs in January. The games are televised in Mexico and will be on YouTube. The organization is looking for a television partner to air the games in the United States.
“We are here to stay for a long time, and we want the community to feel — feel their team, to feel their colors,” Cuevas said.
Fan support, sponsorships and infrastructure issues were a few of the reasons the team relocated from Navojoa.
Cuevas said he’s not worried about a lack of fans from Mexico traveling to Tucson for games.
“People are going to come. I don’t know the other way around. I don’t know, but from Mexico to here, for sure,” he said.
Tucson hosted its first spring training game in 1946, and over the years, was the spring-training home for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Indians began spring training operations at Hi Corbett Field in 1947. After their departure in 1992, the stadium became the spring training home for the Colorado Rockies until 2010. The Tucson Toros, a Triple-A team, also played at Hi Corbett from 1969 to 1997.
When Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium (then Tucson Electric Park) opened in 1998, it became the spring training site for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago White Sox and home to the Triple-A affiliate Tucson Sidewinders.
By 2011, each spring training team had left Tucson. The Triple-A affiliate Tucson Padres had a two-year run at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium before leaving to El Paso. Since its departure in 2013, Tucson has been without professional baseball.
Pima County District 3 Supervisor Jen Allen said the Kino Sports Complex, in which Kino Stadium resides, has transformed into one of the top destinations for sports tournaments and entertainment since the departure of Major League-affiliate teams.
“More than half a million people visit every year to play or visit Kino, which is way more than attended each year for our spring training,” Allen said. “But despite that success, we still didn’t have a tenant for the stadium, so we wanted professional baseball back at Veterans Memorial Stadium. So I am thrilled to say that professional baseball at Keno Sports Complex is back.”
Allen sees hosting the Tucson Baseball Team as an opportunity to enrich and strengthen cultural and economic ties between Tucson and Sonora, Mexico.
“Having a team from a Mexican professional baseball league established in Tucson creates a truly international baseball league, and it reconnects us to those strong and deep cross-border cultural traditions that we all share,” she said.
Pima County government officials, Southern Arizona Sports Tourism & Film Authority executive director Blake Eager and board member Edgar Soto and Mexican Baseball Fiesta founder Francisco Gamez and CEO Frank Gamez III were pivotal in bringing the Tucson Baseball Team to fruition.
The Mexican Baseball Fiesta began in 2011 in Tucson and features the University of Arizona baseball team and three Mexican Pacific League teams. The teams from Mexico use the experience in early October to scrimmage before their regular seasons start.
Gamez, who is from Tucson, foresees a big economic impact for Southern Arizona from Mexican fans, especially given that Mexicans travel to the area to shop more in the fall and winter.
“There are nine cities in Mexico. All of them will now be traveling to Tucson, not only for Mexican Baseball Fiesta for our event but also for the whole season. So I think as far as what is for Tucson, I think this is huge,” he said.
Cuevas has experienced the event with the Mayos de Navojoa several times over the years.
His father, Victor Cuevas Sr., bought a home in Tucson in the 1980s, and he often traveled back and forth from Mexico to live at the house. His son, Victor III, is a co-owner and oversees the operations of the organization.
“Tucson is a baseball town without a baseball team,” Cuevas Jr. said. “My team came the past 15 years to play the Mexican Baseball Fiesta, so I’ve seen firsthand what fans can do when they get together and support baseball, what that can bring us.
“So that’s why it made perfect sense to me to come to Tucson.”
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium hosted the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in March, featuring teams from Colombia, Brazil, Germany and China.
Soto said officials with the World Baseball Classic, which is operated by Major League Baseball, encouraged his group to talk to international teams about making Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium their home after seeing the facilities. That prompted talks with Cuevas Jr.
“This has always been a major league-level surface stadium, so it’s easy for people to come and say, ‘Oh, you got what you need,'” he said. “(Whereas) a lot of other stadiums, they are falling apart, this one’s still thriving.”
PRO TEAMS FROM TUCSON’S PAST
1931-32: The Tucson Missions played in the Arizona-Texas League in 1931 and they became the Lizards in 1932.
1937-1958: Randolph Municipal baseball park opens, later becomes Hi Corbett Field. The field hosts minor league teams Lizards and Tucson Cowboys throughout the years.
1946: The Cleveland Indians moved their spring training operations to Tucson. The city hosts the first MLB spring training game in Arizona, featuring the Indians and New York Giants.
1947: The Indians have their first full Tucson season.
1951: The City of Tucson renames the ballpark in honor of Hiram Steven Corbett, an Arizona State Senator and Tucson Baseball commissioner who helped bring the Cleveland Indians to Tucson.
1969 to 1997: Triple-A minor league baseball team the Tucson Toros — affiliated with several MLB teams over the years — operate out of Hi Corbett. After the 1997 season, the Toros become the top affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a new expansion franchise. The Toros change their name to the Sidewinders and permanently move across town to newly-built Tucson Electric Park (now Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium).
1992: The Indians relocate to Florida following the season.
1993: The Colorado Rockies, a new expansion franchise, moved into Hi Corbett for spring training operations.
1997-2003: USA Baseball headquartered at Hi Corbett.
2004-2007: Arizona Heat pro softball headquartered at Hi Corbett.
2009-2011: Tucson Toros play with independent Golden Baseball League.
2010: The Rockies relocate to Scottsdale.
2012-present: University of Arizona baseball relocates from Frank Sancet Stadium on campus to Hi Corbett Field.
- Parts of the 1989 movie Major League were filmed at Hi Corbett Field.
- Several future notable Major League Baseball players played for the Tucson Toros when the team was affiliated with the Houston Astros from 1980-1996, including Kenny Lofton, Donne Wall, Billy Wagner, Ray Montgomery, Mike Simms, Bobby Abreu, Dave Hajek, Melvin Mora, Phil Nevin, Craig Biggio, Brian Hunter and Mike Hampton.
Tucson Electric Park/ Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
1998: Tucson Electric Park opens and becomes the spring training sites for both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago White Sox, and the home field of the Tucson Sidewinders (formerly Tucson Toros).
1998-2000: The unaffiliated Tucson Mexican All-Stars of the Arizona Rookie League play in training complex across from the stadium.
2008: The White Sox move their spring training operations to Glendale and the Sidewinders move to Reno, Nev., and rename themselves the Reno Aces.
2010: The Diamondbacks relocate to a new complex in Scottsdale following the season.
2011: Tucson Electric Park renamed Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium. San Diego Padres Triple-A affiliate relocates to the stadium as the Tucson Padres. Kino Stadium becomes home to Mexican Baseball Fiesta.
2014: Tucson Padres move to El Paso, Texas, and became the El Paso Chihuahuas.
2016-17: The Tucson Saguaros, a professional baseball team not affiliated with Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball, uses Kino Stadium as home field. The Saguaros would return to the stadium in 2022.
March, 2025: World Baseball Classic Qualifier at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium features teams from Colombia, Brazil, Germany and China.
University of Arizona baseball
1905: Fields first team
Arizona has won four national championships (1976, 1980, 1986 and 2012) and ranks ninth in all-time wins and eight in all-time win percentage, with 44 NCAA tournament appearances and 19 College World Series appearances.
Early American Legion
1932: American Legion team from the Barrio Anita neighborhood called the Oury Park Tigers form.
The Tigers played their home games at Oury Park, which is now part of the David G. Herrera/Ramon Quiroz Park. Some games had 500 fans in attendance. The Tigers disbanded in 1964.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News & the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
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