Los Alijadores de Tampico marcaron historia
México, D.F. (Tomás Morales) 11 de agosto.- En la temporada de 1975 se formó una pareja que por lo menos ese año fue invencible, Héctor Espino dando batazos y el zurdo americano Joe Pactwa dando cañonazos y siendo el pitcher estelar de los Alijadores de Tampico que venciendo en la final al Cafeteros de Córdoba, súper líder de ese año, conquistaron su primer campeonato desde 1946.
Como lanzador tuvo Joe Pactwa un récord de 17-6 con 2.61 y como bateador logro un porcentaje de .299 con 13 jonrones, siendo llamado el "Babe Ruth de Tampico", ya que podía dar batazos y ser un gran pitcher. Originalmente firmado como jardinero y primera base por los Yanquis, tuvo temporadas de 25 y 20 jonrones en las sucursales y fue hasta 1973 que lo probaron como pitcher y tuvo 12-6 en doble A, siendo entonces obtenido por Alijadores en diciembre de 1974. Pactwa tuvo chance en Ligas Mayores con Angeles de California ese mismo año de 1975 y tuvo cuatro juegos en la gran carpa con récord de 1-0 y 3.11, pero para 1976 estaba de regreso con Alijadores donde ya no pudo ser el mismo como lanzador, aunque bateando tuvo otros dos años buenos con 12 y 15 jonrones, jugado después con Saltillo, Coahuila y Reynosa.
Pero en 1975 la combinación de Pactwa y Espino fue mágica, con el gran bateador derecho mexicano teniendo un año de .357 de average, 17 jonrones y 75 carreras empujadas, con los dos brillando intensamente en la gran final que fue para Alijadores en solo cinco juegos. Ya para 1975 la franquicia de los Alijadores había sido obtenida por Max Stein quien colocó a Sergio Kreimerman como gerente y armó un equipo que se llevó la corona en el nuevo parque jaibo colocado en el mismo lugar en donde estaba el anterior, en el que atravesaba el tren, pero con un graderío de cemento para 12 mil espectadores.
Alijadores, con Benjamín "Papelero" Valenzuela de manager, ganó el primer play off a Torreón en seis juegos y luego al Monterrey en siete, llegando a Córdoba para los dos primeros juegos en una serie en que Cafeteros era el gran favorito. Salieron a mano en la ciudad de los '30 caballeros' y luego en Tampico, con miles y miles en el parque y miles quedándose afuera del parque, los Alijadores procedieron a ganar los tres seguidos con brillante pitcheo de Pactwa en el tercero y grandes batazos de Espino a la hora buena. El manager Benjamín "Papelero" Valenzuela no tenía pitcher descansado para el cuarto juego y abrió sorpresivamente con el veterano Julio Cruz, que lanzó el juego de su vida para luego en el quinto completar la barrida en los tres juegos celebrados en Tampico.
Víctor García ganó 10 juegos como lanzador de los campeones del 75 al igual que Kent Lefebre y Francisco Maytorena fue de gran importancia con récord de 10-4.
El boricua Víctor Torres fue otro jugador importante con .318 en la esquina caliente y el zurdo dominicano Tom Silverio fue el brillante jardinero central de siempre, bateando para .285.
Los Cafeteros favoritos fueron manejados por el famoso cubano Napoleón Reyes y tenían gran pitcheo con Ramón Arano, Vicente "Huevo" Romo, el boricua zurdo Juan Pizarro y Porfirio Salomón, contando con bateadores como Vitico Davalillo, Celerino Sánchez, Hal King, Luis Alcaraz y Manny Alvarez.
Pero vino la sorpresa ya que nadie esperaba que los Alijadores les arrebataran los tres juegos celebrados en Tampico. La combinación perfecta de Héctor Espino y Joe Pactwa fue simplemente demasiado para los demás en 1975.
FOTO: Héctor Espino, durante su época con Alijadores y el parque con las vías del tren.
Tampico desapareció por un tiempo de la Liga Mexicana con la huelga de peloteros en 1980, pero regresó en 1983 cuando Juan Abusaid llevó el parque Gran Mecano de Torreón a Tampico en donde los Alijadores se instalaron en las afueras de la ciudad tampiqueña.
Alijadores dejó la Liga Mexicana en 1985 y en 1989 iban a revivir al Alijadores la poderosa pareja de Joaquín Hernández Galicia, conocido como "La Quina", quien estaba al frente del Sindicato de Petróleos Mexicanos, y su segundo de a bordo, Salvador Barragán, y ya habían contratado a Tomás Herrera y "Chito" García para que uno estuviera como manager y el otro de gerente, pero el 8 de enero de ese año, por órdenes del presidente de México, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, los dos famosos personajes de Petróleos Mexicanos fueron arrestados con diferentes cargos.
Y todavía estamos esperando el retorno de los Alijadores que fueron campeones en 1945, 46 y 1975.
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