MLB plans to play two games in Mexico City in April.
Major League Baseball has scheduled two games in Mexico City, Mexico as part of its international expansion plan. But just because MLB is sending the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres to play games on April 25th and April 26th, that does not mean MLB is ready to give Mexico City an expansion team if and when MLB owners decide to add teams. MLB knows the Mexico market inside and outside. MLB has been sending teams to Mexico to play in exhibition and in regular season games for decades. In 1946, MLB had to fend off a challenge from Jorge Pasquel who wanted to form a Mexican League that would challenge the 16-team structure that featured separate circuits, the American League and National League. There was a baseball commissioner but the AL and NL owners looked after their own leagues.
Pasquel had been signing the stars of the Negro Leagues but wanted much more. He began raiding MLB teams. Pasquel did sign Junior Stephens, Sal Maglie, Hal Lanier, Mickey Owen and others. Pasquel made a run at Phil Rizzuto, Ted Williams, Bob Feller and Stan Musial but his plan ultimately collapsed and the players who signed with him eventually came back although there were strings attached which prompted a lawsuit between the players and MLB. Commissioner Happy Chandler slapped a lifetime ban on the players who went to the Mexican League. In October 1947, Danny Gardella sued MLB claiming that the ban and reserve clause violated antitrust laws. In June 1949, MLB settled with Gardella and granted amnesty to the jumpers and ended the ban. MLB has a long and somewhat sordid history in Mexico. Around 30 years ago, Colorado Rockies franchise owner Jerry McMorris suggested that Monterrey which is the industrial capital of Mexico and not far from the Texas border should be considered a potential expansion team market.
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