Víctor Mesa Martínez

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Víctor Mesa is one of the most charismatic athletes in Cuban baseball of all time. One of the greats of sports commentary, the late José Antonio (Bobby) Salamanca, baptized him as the Orange Explosion in allusion to his team's colors; commentator Modesto Agüero, used the moniker "show" to identify him, and a fellow countryman journalist, José Antonio Fulgueiras, simply calls him spark...

The truth is that Víctor Mesa Martínez, now removed from the baseball diamonds as an active player, continues to be one of the most controversial players in the country in the last fifty years.

Retired from Cuban baseball, he played three seasons with the Japanese team Niko Niko Do.

Friendly, almost always smiling, at times reflective, he recalled that Juan Rodríguez was more than a trainer, "like a father to me, because they were separated, he saw us play in the neighborhood and selected several of the boys who were making our first attempts there. He began to study at the School of Sports Initiation (EIDE), in the province of Cienfuegos. At that time, he would have been about nine years old".

There, in addition to studying, he played up to the 13-14 age category, in which due to his sports results, he was selected for the Superior School of Athletic Development (ESPA), in Villa Clara, where he began to play in the 15-16 age category as a youth.

Mesa was one of the main players in the history of Cuban baseball, leading the league on 14 occasions in a period of 15 years. He was also a leader in runs scored four times, once in hits and twice in doubles.

In the international arena he also shone, as he was on the national team from 1981 to 1995 in centerfield as a regular. Later he was the manager of the Villaclara team and was even director of the national baseball team.

In the 1978-1979 series he led in stolen bases with 20. In 1979-1980 he led again in stolen bases with 19 and in doubles with 17. During 1980-1981, he scored 60 runs, to lead this department. That year, he made his international debut in the 1981 Intercontinental Cup. From here on there were many years in which he was at the top of Cuban baseball. In 1995 upon retiring he became manager of Villaclara, played in the Japanese league and has been a manager of teams in the Mexican league.

The board of directors of the Petroleros de Minatitlán club ratified Cuban manager Víctor Mesa as their new skipper for the 2011 campaign of the Mexican Baseball League (LMB), which will start next March.