'We are all Guerreros': Oaxaca's unique culture is on display at local ballpark.

Trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Oaxaca Guerreros have the bases loaded with one out and the fans at Eduardo Vasconcelos Stadium are on their feet. They're beating on cowbells, banging drums, blowing whistles, shaking rattles, screaming--anything to try to distract the Mexico City pitcher and to coax the tying run in from third.

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To my left, a little girl no more than 5 years old eagerly tears a newspaper into tiny pieces of confetti in anticipation of an upcoming celebration. When the pitcher suddenly has trouble locating the strike zone, a woman behind me in a Guerreros T-shirt that reads: "With the Guerreros until the final out," screams "bola bola bola bola bola!" hoping for another wide one to force in the run.

Amidst the chaos, a vendor passes by with a tray full of nuts and the local delicacy, chapulines. I ask my friend Maria, who's attending her first ever Guerreros game, if she'd like a plate of these fried and seasoned grasshoppers. She wrinkles her nose in disgust. Many Oaxacans love the crispy critters, but for others it can be a tough taste to acquire.

Then, with the next pitch, the Guerreros' batter lifts a long fly to left. The ball drifts back and the crowd roars in anticipation--it might be, it might be ... no, it's snared just in front of the fence by the left fielder, a few feet shy of a jonron (the Mexicanized version of "home run") but still plenty deep to score the tying run. As the runner from third touches home plate, a 60-something year-old man who came to the game in a full baseball uniform hurls fistfuls of confetti into the air above me. Salsa music blares over the loudspeakers and the stadium is in full party mode.

The Local Flavor

This is Mexican League baseball, where the game on the field is the familiar American pastime but the ambience in the park is unmistakably Mexican.

And here in Oaxaca, one of Mexico's proudest and most culturally rich states, the ambience is distinctly Oaxacan.

The songs, the food, the slogans on the scoreboard, and even the artwork on the stadium walls all reflect the deeply indigenous traditions and sentiments of this fascinating state. The sights, sounds, and flavors of a Guerreros home game can only be experienced in Oaxaca.

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"When we first started up the Guerreros in 1996," says marketing director Raul Solis, "we did a study to see what would stick with the people here." One thing they found was people wanted a team image wedded closely to local tradition. "We held a competition to choose the team name," Solis says. "Guerreros ("warriors" in English) was the name that people wanted because it reflected the tradition of warriors in Zapotec history."

Oaxacan Pride

In about 500 BC, the largest indigenous group in the area, the Zapotecs, founded what is believed to be the Americas' earliest metropolis on the Monte Alban hilltop just southwest of present-day Oaxaca city.

Once established in the Oaxaca Valley, the Zapotecs fought a series of wars to defend their territory, first against a rival indigenous group to the northwest, the Mixtecs, and later against the Aztecs. Today, the well-excavated ruins at Monte Alban stand as one of the area's most compelling attractions.

"Everything that we do in terms of publicity is going to connect the team in some way with the traditions and pride of Oaxaca," says Solis. In that vein, team slogans include "In Oaxaca, we are all Guerreros" and "Proudly Guerrero," and official press releases affectionately refer to the team as la tribu zapoteca, or "the Zapotec tribe."

And although he's not their best player, the lone Oaxacan on the squad, second baseman Jaime Brena, is clearly the marquee name on the roster. He gets the most enthusiastic introduction from the PA announcer, he gets the biggest cheers from the fans, and he's the only player to have a special biographic section in the Guerreros' media guide.

"I think it's always great to play for the team in the place where you were born," Brena says. "And here, it's also a great responsibility. And the people here really identify with me as one of their own. They'll always say to me: 'I go to the stadium to see you play, so if you're not playing, I have no reason to go.'"

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A Haunting Tune

Since the first Guerreros' game eight seasons ago, the team has honored its home state by playing the traditional hymn "Mi Linda Oaxaca," during the seventh-inning stretch.

The night of our visit, "Mi Linda Oaxaca" comes at a moment of dire spiritual need for the Guerreros' fans: their heroes are trailing 6-0 to the defending Mexican League champions, the Diablos Rojos of Mexico City.

As the hauntingly beautiful tune begins to echo over the stadium PA, the crowd of 4,000 stands solemnly, singing along to the words:

   Oaxaca, you live in me
   and for you I give my life
   Hear the anguish of my voice
   that cries and sings, wanting to return

As the final refrain fades away amidst enthusiastic applause, so does the somber mood of the fans. After all, down six runs entering the eighth inning, it's time to wake up the bats.

Ballpark Delicacies

As the Diablos Rojos' leadoff batter steps to the plate, I feel a tap on my shoulder. It's my friend and former English student Guadalupe Cabrera who's brought me a plate of homemade tamales. Guadalupe and I met while I was teaching at the Universidad Tecnologica de la Mixteca in the northwest corner of Oaxaca state. She's a business science student there, and during the season, she makes the three-hour trip each weekend to Oaxaca to lend a hand with Antojitos Lupe, her family's stadium concessions business.

Antojitos are the familiar snackable Mexican food items such as tacos, tostadas, tamales, and empanadas. Antojitos Lupe adds tlayudas to this menu--large, flat breads smothered in beans, cheese, and vegetables and sometimes topped with meat. This regional favorite is sometimes called a "Oaxacan pizza."

Guadalupe's family has been selling homemade treats at Vasconcelos Stadium since the Guerreros started playing in 1996. In fact, her mother has been selling snacks at professional and municipal baseball games in Oaxaca for the past 17 years. The family is a fixture at Guerreros games, and perhaps most distinguishable among them is Guadalupe's ancient grandmother, Eustolia Cruz.

With her head wrapped in a traditional rodete headscarf and her shoulders cloaked in the multi-purpose shawl known as a rebozo, she balances a basket on her head, trekking up and down the steps as she calls out: "Empanadas! Empanadas! How many do you want?!?"

Oaxacan culinary tradition is famous for its patience and exactitude, perhaps most famously in the preparation of its moles. This diligent approach to cooking is present even when it comes to ballpark snacks.

The day before a game, Guadalupe's mother goes to the local market to buy the freshest meats, vegetables and spices for her antojitos. Later, she cleans the spices and dries her tostadas in the sun.

The next morning, she arises at 4:00 a.m. to prepare the nixtamal dough for her empanadas by first soaking corn in a limestone solution, then by milling the corn with a stone.

The rest of the family joins in to help prepare the meats and vegetables, and an hour before game time--usually 6 or 7 p.m. to avoid the afternoon sun--they arrive at the stadium to begin cooking and selling their snacks.

Taunting The Opposition

As I munch on my delicious tamales, the Diablos Rojos go down without a fuss in the top of the eighth. While the teams change positions, 10 peppy young women waving pom-poms and clad in matching black-and-red miniskirts and midriff-bearing tops run onto the field to perform a dance routine for the crowd.

These are the Guerreritas, the team's cheering squad. Though unheard of at U.S. ballparks, cheerleaders are commonplace in the Mexican League where their presentations are met with enthusiastic calls and whistles.

Motivated perhaps by the Guerreritas, the Guerreros manage to string together a couple of walks and hits and, suddenly, it's 6-2 with men on base. The crowd, rising to the occasion, launches into its cacophony of horns, bells, whistles, and shouts. The Diablos Rojos' manager trucks out a relief pitcher, but he can't stem the tide. It seems clear the fans are assuming a large role in the inning, distracting the opposing hurler with noises and a variety of colorful insults--the mildest of which compare the pitcher unfavorably to a donkey. The strongest tend to involve his mother.

"I've found that in Mexico I've been offended pretty much the most I've been offended anywhere," laughs Guerreros outfielder Greg Martinez, the lone American on the team's roster.

According to Raul Solis, by making people laugh with their catcalls, these hecklers contribute to the spirit and unity in the stands. On this night, it's clear that the insults also have the added benefit of unnerving opposing players.

Warriors Battle Back

As I look out at the young, nervous face of the latest Diablos Rojos reliever, charged with protecting what is now a slim 6-5 lead, I can't help but think of one of the many baseball-themed Damian Flores Cortes murals that adorn the walls of Oaxaca's stadium.

In this particular mural, a distracted fielder stands at his position with a look of panic on his face as two thought bubbles loom overhead. One shows him, his wife, and their young child; the other shows the child alone with no parents.

Flores Cortes is a local artist whose abstract stadium representations show, among other things, a pitcher delivering a pitch with full Native American headdress and a masked, El Zorro-type figure wielding a baseball bat.

It's fitting that a local artist is given such prominence at Vasconcelos Stadium, for Oaxaca's artistic traditions are also a vital part of its culture. Oaxaca is a city that abounds with galleries and museums, and handicraft markets and shops are everywhere selling colorful woven rugs, hand-embroidered ancestral tribal dresses, and alebrijes--wildly figured, elaborately painted wooden animals.

The rattled Diablos reliever eventually gives up the pinch-hit fly ball that ties the score. In comes another reliever and he promptly surrenders a bloop hit that plates two more runners and prolongs the raucous party in the stands.

It has been a miraculous eight-run outburst and everyone has got full value out of their 35-peso ticket.

Demoralized and shell-shocked, the Diablos Rojos go down in order in the ninth and the fans give their beloved Guerreros a standing ovation. Stomachs filled with homemade antojitos, the satisfied crowd is still abuzz with excitement as we file toward the exits.

Out on the street, a local entrepreneur has laid out an impressive array of Guerreros shirts, caps, noisemakers and ponchos. My friend Maria, a newly converted fan, stops to decide which item she'll buy.

RELATED ARTICLE: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

The Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (LMB) celebrates its 80th season this year by honoring Alejo Peralta, the founder of the Tigres franchise, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2005. Peralta established the Tigres Capitalinos in Mexico City in 1955 and the team won the LMB title in its inaugural season. Peralta helped revolutionize the LMB as his Tigres became the first organization to encourage the development of players with the creation of farm teams, hired full-time talent scouts, inked an agreement with Major League organizations and established the nation's first baseball academy.

The 2005 baseball season gets underway on March 21, with the playoffs set for August and September. There are 16 teams split into two divisions--the North Division and the South Division. The South Division is comprised of the defending champion Campeche Piratas, Puebla Pericos, the Cancun Langosteros, the Yucatan Leones, the Oaxaca Guerreros, the Tabasco Olmecas, the Puebla Tigres and the Veracruz Rojos de Aguila. The North Division features the Monterrey Sultanes, the Monclova Acereros, the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, the Aguascalientes Rieleros, the Saltillo Saraperos, the Tijuana Toros, the San Luis Potosi Tuneros and the Laguna Vaqueros.

Several of the teams play in world-class stadiums, such as the Sultanes home park in Monterrey, which has hosted regular season Major League games. The Foro Sol in Mexico City (home of the Diablos Rojos) regularly hosts Major League Spring Training games.

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Ticket availability can vary from city to city, especially for rivalry games (Diablos Rojos-Tigres and Sultanes-Saraperos are among the best), but in general, tickets can easily be purchased on game day. If you go to a game, remember to take a poncho or an umbrella since the season coincides with the rainy season.

For more information, consult the league's official home page at http://lmb.com.mx/.

--Tom Buckley

Jonathan Clark

([e-mail]) is a journalist based in Mexico City.