Finishing my list of Cheapest Organizations I’ve played for. This is also my absolute worst experience playing professional baseball.
1 on My List of Cheapest Organizations: Mexico’s LMB Our story again goes south of the border. brings us to Mexico’s Sultanes de Monterrey. In the LMB, Mexicos version of MLB. I wasn’t expecting the same level as the majors, but even so, the level of “cheap” and what I would consider sub-standard took me by surprise.
I started the 2013 season in Monterrey with a full spring training.
First of all, the spring training fields were at least a 45 minute drive from the hotel, and we were jammed in the vans well past legal capacity. (If Mexico even has a legal capacity). When we got to the “facility,” it was just open fields. No clubhouse, nothing just dirt, and way too many rocks in the infield to be remotely safe. Shade? Only if you found a tree. Some dugouts didn’t even have a roof. It was brutal. No hiding from the Mexican sun. You might find a table or two with fruit and water, but that was gone in 45 minutes, tops. Occasionally we got sandwiches for lunch, but more often we waited till we got back to the hotel to actually eat. Dinner at the hotel was decent, it was just repetitive, pretty much the same thing everyday rotated between three entrées and you had to be early, or you wouldn’t eat at all.
As far as gear, 1 shirt, 1 pair of shorts, and a trucker hat. That was it. The shirt was 100% cotton a midriff by the end of week 1. No spares, no extras, just running it into the ground. Spring training games? We used “official league” balls, but they were more like high school balls. The seams were so high I couldn’t keep my slider in the zone. I remember the pitching coach telling me that I “had to throw it for a strike.” I asked if we’d be using real baseballs for the season. Thank goodness we did.
The regular season wasn’t much better. Lockers and training rooms? Dirty and bare and there was definitely mold.
Forget about finding anything healthy to eat.
In terms of gear, I had one undershirt for the whole season. I did like the uniforms, but apparently, getting a second hat was out of the question.
But the cheapest move of all came after they released me. Honestly, I thought I was about to be told I’d made the all-star team when they called me in. Nope—released. And here’s the kicker—they held my passport and kept me in Mexico for another three weeks with no pay. I told them, “If you’re going to keep me here, you’re going to have to pay me.” They didn’t. So I sat in a hotel, basically held hostage, for 24 days, just because they didn’t want to send me home. (For whatever reason) and my agent at the time was absolutely worthless. Seriously I was stuck in mexico and this guys advice was he would pray about it. Pick the Damn phone up Van Horn and get me home. Needless to say I parted ways with him and that agency after that.
There’s a lot more. Playing for there was a nightmare. Not just cheapness everywhere, but it felt like literal children were running things. Nothing was ever organized, nothing felt planned, and as players we were often just dropped into dangerous situations or places with zero guidance. It was up to us (me) to just figure it out and survive.
Here’s just one example: Before I signed, I specifically asked if I could bring my first wife and child with me to Monterrey for the season. The contact I had said yes, but told me to wait until after spring training. So once I got there, again, I brought it up. That same contact looked me dead in the eye and asked, “Can I see a picture of your wife and child?” Proudly, I showed him. He laughed and goes, “No, don’t bring them here. They’re too pretty. Someone will take them.” I laughed, kind of awkwardly, and said thanks. He looked at me seriously and goes, “No, I mean it. Don’t bring them here they’ll be gone.”
Honestly, there’s so much more.