Baseball at the border: Communities connecting through youth

Like most people, Dalinda González-Alcántar’s day job has her wearing a lot of hats.

“A lot of things I do outside of my time [in this role] is being a good representation of this region and sharing our story and the truth of it,” González-Alcántar says. “I don’t take that lightly.”

On this particular day, the Chief Executive Officer of the Boys and Girls Club of McAllen, Texas was organizing a baseball tournament, specifically the McAllen International Youth Baseball Tournament. The tournament would christen a brand-new, state-of-the-art baseball complex that took five years to rise above this border town in Southeast Texas.

“It’s a beautiful complex,” González-Alcántar says.

“Baseball has always been really important to the border.”

But González-Alcántar didn’t just see the tournament as an opportunity to show off the new baseball facility. It was a chance to honor the history of the game and what it meant to Mexicans along the border.

Three months ago, a group from Mexico reached out to González-Alcántar to gauge her interest in a tournament that would honor the memory of the 1957 Little League baseball team from Monterrey, Mexico, the first team from outside the U.S and Canada to play in the Little League World Series and the first international team to win the tournament.

“I mean, it’s such an incredible story that we said, ‘Absolutely, we will center an entire tournament around that story,’” González-Alcántar says.

But González-Alcántar wasn’t satisfied with just hosting a tournament and remembering a 61-year-old team. She wanted the children she worked with to really know the team. So she reached out to anyone and everyone she could think of, hoping to get a member of the team to make an appearance during the mid-November tournament.

So, on this particular day, in the midst of all this planning, González-Alcántar sat down at her desk and opened an email.

And then the lifelong McAllen native started to cry tears of joy.

A Family Bond

Dalinda González-Alcántar was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley city of McAllen, on the U.S.-Mexico border, across from its sister city, Reynosa.

Dalinda and her twin sister, Denise De La Cruz, were part of a baseball family. Their father, Gilbert, was a pelotero through and through: a youth coach, a volunteer and supporter of youth baseball in the region. For him, baseball was more than a game; he saw the sport as an opportunity to improve the Rio Grande Valley.

“Baseball was incredibly important to him,” González-Alcántar says.

He passed that love of the game onto her.

González-Alcántar spent part of her childhood volunteering at or near ball fields in McAllen. She ran concessions stands, kept score for games and she’d even give water to umpires calling games in the scorching Texas heat.

That hustle, she says, molded her into who she is today and readied her for life as a CEO of an organization helping young people realize their full potential.

“You don’t realize that you are being prepared to one day lead an organization like this,” González-Alcántar says.

Changing the narrative

Having lived her whole life near the U.S.-Mexico border, González-Alcántar has a deep love for the shared lifestyle that McAllen and its sister city, Reynosa, share.

“This tournament is about who we are,” González-Alcántar says. “We are this bi-national community that happens to have a border.”

Too often, González-Alcántar sees the narrative that border towns like McAllen are unsafe communities, rife with crime. Walking and living in McAllen, González-Alcántar doesn’t see that and is upset with the misconception of the region that is portrayed.

“I think it’s an opportunity for us to really put a spotlight on our region and say that, ‘This is who we really are,’” González-Alcántar says.

If you’re looking to host a youth baseball tournament that honors a legendary Latino Little League team, McAllen is the perfect spot.

“We do four seasons of baseball here,” González-Alcántar says. “We do baseball, softball, volleyball and flag football, but baseball’s the biggest monster. In the spring, we run almost 900 kids.”

The 1957 Mexico Little League team from Monterrey, Mexico was special for many reasons. In addition to being the first non-U.S. or Canada team to participate, they were the first international champion. That year, Ángel Macías became the first and only pitcher to throw a perfect game in a Little League World Series championship game.

And the team had a connection to McAllen, having played games there and competed against teams from the Rio Grande Valley prior to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. The team didn’t stay in hotels in McAllen, they stayed with host families.

“They were extremely underfunded,” González-Alcántar says.

The venue González-Alcántar chose would be a step up from those humble beginnings.

In July, the city opened the McAllen Youth Baseball Complex, a state-of-the-art baseball facility that features 12 fields, one of which is a Miracle Field, the term for facilities built specifically to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Voters approved a $15 million bond issue in 2013 to pay for the complex, but because of delays it was not completed until July of this year.

González-Alcántar was in the right place at the right time to organize such an event. Deeply involved with Boys and Girls Club, a pelotera with a deep appreciation and love of a game that’s part of her familial identity, she knew hosting the tournament at the complex was the perfect way to honor the team in a baseball-crazed region that shares Mexican and American culture.

“I mean, it’s such an incredible story that we said, ‘Absolutely, we will center an entire tournament around that story,’” González-Alcántar says.

The Perfect Event

The three-day tournament weekend begins on Friday, November 16, with a 7 p.m. screening of “The Perfect Game”, which tells the story of the Monterrey Little League team, for the participating teams with popcorn and drinks. The town will host Under-8, Under-10, Under-12 and Under-14 divisions with teams from McAllen, nearby Edinburg, Texas, Reynosa, Mexico and Monterrey, Mexico participating.

“We’re looking at having out about 30 teams all together,” González-Alcántar said. “One of the big things that they wanted was new competition. The Mexican teams want to play the American teams and American teams are excited because they want new competition from Mexico.”

The backdrop to the event will be McAllen’s annual Tamale Fest, with music, carnival rides and, of course, plenty of tamales.

Even with all this – an expansive bi-national tournament in a gleaming new complex in a town rich with history of the game, González-Alcántar wanted more. A final detail to demonstrate the commitment she and her father made to the game.

González-Alcántar asked McAllen Mayor Jim Darling to record a video, inviting one of the living members of the 1957 team, José ‘Pepe’ Maiz, the president of the Mexican team, the Sultanes de Monterrey, to the tournament and to throw out the first pitch of the Tournament. (The mayor made it clear how he felt, “Pepe, you’re a hero of mine. You’re a legend in our area.”)

González-Alcántar sent the video to some connections in Mexico, hoping Maiz would see it.

Then came that email. Maiz’s response was simple: “Yes!!!”

González-Alcántar was overcome with emotion. She couldn’t hold back the tears.

“When I opened up that email and I saw it, I started to cry,” González-Alcántar says. “I thought, ‘What an honor to be heading up this baseball tournament.’”

“People long before I was even alive have been looking at this game as a spirit of friendship, especially in this border region.”

Maiz will hurl the first pitch during an opening ceremony on Saturday before games begin. Mayor Darling, González-Alcántar’s hard work of promoting the region and the game and a feeling that ran throughout her life, had been rewarded. It was always about more than baseball.

“We celebrate family,” González-Alcantar says. “Family and hard work, I would say are probably the cornerstones of what we know how to do extremely well in our region.”

Featured Image: Dalinda González-Alcántar

Inset Images: Dalinda González-Alcántar