TIGRES DEL LICEY

'Tigres del Licey' is a professional baseball team founded in 1907 based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It is one of the two franchises of the Capital city of the country, the oldest and most winning team in Dominican league, having won 19 Dominican titles and 9 Caribbean World Series as of October, 2006. The best players ever were Pedro González (number 2), Alonso Perry (5), Manuel Mota (7), Guayubín Olivo (9), César Gerónimo (80), Elvio Jiménez (11). Many of the best Dominican baseballers and Major League Baseball players have taken part in the long history of the Tigres, including Tom Lasorda, baseball hall-of-famer who took the team to the 1973 Caribbean World Series title. The Licey logo is a cursive “L”.

Contents

History

Modern situation

Players

See also

External links

Notes and references

Cited references

History

Circa 1900, baseball in Dominican Republic was only a minor pastime, due to the heavy political turmoil surrounding the country back then. But by 1907, baseball was increasing in popularity with two amateur teams ("Ozama" and "Nuevo Club") being the most popular. Licey was the first attempt to team up as an antagonist for these two teams.
The Licey team was founded as the result of a meeting that took place in the house of Vicente María Vallejo, in the Conde street, in Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone, on November 7, 1907. Founder members were: George and Cuncún Pou, Luis and Federico Fiallo, Luis and Pinchán Valejo, Luis Castillo, Salvador Piñeyro, Alvaro Alvarez, Tutú Martínez, Angel and Chichí Mieses, Arturo Perdomo, Bi Sanchez, Virgilio Abreu, Alberto Peña, Arturo Nolasco and Tulio Piña. Many of the founding members of the original team were also part of the first roster^[1].
Over the next 15 years Licey became so dominant that an agreement was made among the three other competing teams (''Los Muchachos'', ''San Carlos'' and ''Delco Lite'') to form a new team, comprised of their best players, in order to beat Licey. That team, the Leones del Escogido, became everything Licey is not. They were the Lions to Licey’s tiger. Their colors would be red, to oppose the Licey blue. They would even play in Santo Domingo.
During what Dominicans call the “first stage” of the country’s baseball history, the game was only played during the day. The game’s “second stage” didn’t begin until dictator Rafael Trujillo built the capital’s Estadio Quisqueya in 1955, a brilliantly designed and built stadium for the time. With the stadium came lights and what is considered the Dominican’s golden age.

Modern situation

The team, nicknamed ''"El Glorioso"'', has a passionate fan base. Their main rivals are the Águilas Cibaeñas of Santiago, and in 2006, a huge faceoff between the two occurred when they met each other in the league playoffs. Each team had won an equal number of league titles, and whoever won this season would have the most titles. Licey won this battle with las ''Águilas'', but they lost in the Caribbean Series. ''El Glorioso'' had then won 19 Dominican championships.
In 2007, ''El Glorioso'' lost the championship series to las ''Águilas'', which tied both teams at 19 championships.

Players

★ Luis Castillo

★ Jose Offerman

★ Ronnie Belliard

★ Pedro Martinez

★ Tommy Lasorda

★ Manny Mota

★ Rico Carty

★ George Bell

★ Tony Fernandez

★ Joaquin Andujar

★ Ramon Martinez

★ Alejandro Pena

★ Henry Rodriguez

★ César Gerónimo

★ Rafael Landestoy

★ Orel Hershiser

★ Steve Garvey

★ Tony Oliva

★ Mike Piazza

★ Bob Gibson

★ Al Hrabosky

★ Steve Yeager

★ Bobby Valentine

★ John Wetteland

★ Jesus Alou

★ John McNamara

★ Grady Little

★ Mike Scioscia

★ Mickey Hatcher

★ John Roseboro

★ Terry Collins

★ Jose Rijo

★ Doug Rau

★ Steve Howe

★ Buck Rodgers

★ Del Crandall

★ Leon Durham

★ Pedro Gonzalez

★ Alonzo Perry

★ Diomedes Olivo

★ Federico Olivo

★ Luis Rodriguez Olmo

★ Charlie Hough

★ Pedro Borbon

★ Rick Rhoden

★ Rick Sutcliffe

★ Mike Norris

★ Edgar Renteria

★ Joe Ferguson

★ Bill Russell

★ Darrin Fletcher

★ Kelly Gruber

★ Teodoro Martinez

★ Dave Stewart

★ John Tudor

★ Joe Ferguson

★ Mark McGwire

★ Terry Steinbach

★ Eric Plunk

★ Felix Jose

★ Tony Phillips

★ Willie Wilson

★ Juan Guzman

★ Sid Fernandez

★ Eric Byrnes

★ Mark Bellhorn

★ Mariano Duncan

★ Jose Canseco

★ Kurt Bevacqua

★ Bruce Botche

★ Jim Lefebvre

★ Kevin Kennedy

★ Luis Pujols

★ Chico Walker

★ John Patterson

★ Steve Sparks

★ Vladimir Guerrero

★ Jose Guillen

★ Timo Perez

★ Pascual Perez

★ Melido Perez

★ Carlos Perez

★ Felix Rodriguez

★ Salomon Torres

★ Jose Mesa

★ Ramon Ortiz

★ Manny Aybar

★ Jose Jimenez

★ Jorge Sosa

★ Carlos Pena

★ Aramis Ramirez

★ Deivi Cruz

★ D'Angelo Jimenez

★ Von Joshua

★ Clete Boyer

★ Dave Hansen

★ Alex Ochoa

★ Rudy Law

★ Jim Beauchamp

★ Butch Hobson

★ Mark Little

★ Cristian Guzman

★ Byron Browne

★ Mike Torrez

★ Pedro Astacio

★ Reggie Cleveland

★ Andy Abad

See also

★ Professional baseball in the Dominican Republic

★ Caribbean World Series

External links

★ Official site

★ Fan site

Notes and references

Cited references

1. Foundation of the Tigres Del Licey (Spanish): http://www.licey.com/fundacion.asp