1978: año de Rieleros de Aguascalientes
México, D.F. (Tomás Morales) 19 de agosto.- Dicen y dicen bien, que el pitcheo es el 75 por ciento de un equipo de beisbol y los Rieleros de Aguascalientes contaron en la temporada de 1978 con cuatro lanzadores abridores que ganaron un gran total de 54 juegos, entre los cuatro, del total de 89 victorias con la que encabezaron la zona Sureste sobre los Ángeles de Puebla y Alacranes de Durango, que terminaron empatados en el segundo lugar a tres juegos y medio. En un juego extra en Puebla, Alacranes ganó y fue a los playoffs.
Fue el de 1978 el gran año de Horacio Piña, quien había regresado de las Ligas Mayores para tener una campaña de 21 ganados y solamente cuatro perdidos, así como 1.94 en efectividad y un juego perfecto, con Cecilio Acosta, otro lanzador que venía de la gran carpa, ganando 15 al igual que el joven zurdo Ángel Moreno, quien iba a llegar a las Grandes Ligas, y 13 triunfos de Porfirio Salomón.
En esa temporada de 1978 tuvimos dos juegos perfectos, uno de nueve entradas en que Horacio Piña logró la hazaña contra los Diablos Rojos, el 12 de julio, en Aguascalientes, y otro por el cubano Diego Seguí, que con los Cafeteros de Córdoba lo logró contra Nuevo Laredo en un juego de siete innings, parte de un doble juego, el 21 de junio en Córdoba. Al lanzar Piña el perfecto de nueve innings, apenas el segundo en la historia de la Liga Mexicana y el primero después del de Ramiro Cuevas en 1953.
Con un equipo completo, el manager Jaime Fabela se anotó su primer campeonato como timonel, venciendo en los playoffs primero a los Diablos Rojos de "Cananea" Reyes, luego al Cafeteros de Córdoba que había sido el Súper Líder y luego, en la final por el campeonato, derrotó a los Algodoneros de Unión Laguna, que tuvieron de esta manera otra serie por la corona fallida.
Para apoyar al gran pitcheo, los Rieleros del 78 tuvieron a cinco bateadores sobre los .300, con el boricua Raúl "Boogie" Colón dando para .355, los americanos Willie Crawford y Clarence Jones con .311 cada quien, mientras el siempre consistente Jesús Sommers bateó .303 y el veloz Gonzalo Villalobos, "Mr. Triple", dio .300. Francisco "Chico" Rodríguez jugó las paradas cortas en forma brillante y bateó un sólido .283. Clarence Jones, en su única temporada de Liga Mexicana, dio 23 jonrones y produjo 88 carreras para ser el mejor jonronero del equipo.
Los dos primeros playoffs fueron duros para los Rieleros, ya que tanto al Diablos como al Córdoba les ganaron en seis juegos. Jugando en el parque Alberto Romo Chávez de Aguascalientes, los Rieleros le ganaron el sexto partido al Diablos para eliminarlos. Los dos managers, Jaime Fabela y "Cananea" Reyes, habían sido compañeros cuando eran jugadores con los Charros de Jalisco, con Fabela teniendo una gran temporada en 1957, su gran año como bateador al conectar para .357, ocho jonrones y 109 carreras empujadas. Pero el llamado "Gigante de Cuencame" nunca pudo repetir otro año como ese, triunfando en 1978 como manager campeón de los Rieleros.
En el segundo playoff y al lanzar Horacio Piña en uno de los juegos, golpeó a Winston Llenas, manager y gran bateador de los Cafeteros, quien ya no pudo jugar el resto de la serie al sufrir de una muñeca fracturada. Los Rieleros jugaron gran beisbol en el Beisborama de Córdoba y los que la vimos nunca olvidaremos una gran atrapada que hizo el jardinero izquierdo Joe González a un batazo de los Cafeteros con hombres en base. Ese lance salvó a los Rieleros que llegaron a a final.
FOTO: Horacio Piña y Diego Seguí, parte de aquel equipo hidrocálido.
Córdoba fue el súper líder de la temporada de 1978 con 95 victorias y contaba con gran pitcheo integrado por Pepe Peña con 22 victorias, Ramón Arano con 19 triunfos, el cubano Diego Seguí con 18 y Vicente "Huevo" Romo con 13, contando con los relevos de Salomé Barojas que tuvo marca de 8-3.
Estos dos primeros playoffs del Rieleros fueron televisados por Canal 11 de la ciudad de México, gracias a la intervención del Lic. Jorge Pulido, y la serie final fue puesta por Televisa.
La final representó menos problemas para los Rieleros, ya que la ganaron en cinco juegos al Unión Laguna con Moi Camacho al timón y de esa manera se coronaron. Fue un gran año para el propietario del club, el señor Raúl Medina, y para el gerente Ramón "Chita" García, por muchos años exitoso buscador de peloteros de la Liga Mexicana y trabajando también para equipos de Grandes Ligas. Desgraciadamente Raúl Medina falleció en el 2012, precisamente cuando en Aguascalientes se estaba jugando la final entre sus Rieleros, con su hijo de nuevo presidente del club, y el Águila de Veracruz.
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