• Submitted by: manso
• Sports
• 08 / 11 / 2011

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08/10/2011. By: Miguel Ernesto Gomez. After four years away from the fields, Victor Mesa will be the head coach in Cuba again. The charismatic number 32 returns to the National Series; but the formerly star outfielder can’t stay away from the “surprising plays” and his appointment as head coach of the Crocodiles of Matanzas certainly has been one of the most commented piece of news among baseball fans.

Victor was active for 19 seasons and his true impact in the teams he played cannot be measured. He finished with an offensive average of 318, with 273 homers, and he stole 588 bases. The so-called "orange explosion" was essential part in the four national championships won by Villa Clara between 1983 and 1995. In addition nobody questioned his position in the national team for over a decade. Then came the fatal period in which so many veteran players “chose” to go into retirement and started to play baseball in different places of the world, especially Japan. Victor was one to them.

In several interviews Victor has repeated that in 1995, his last year in the Series, he was still in very good shape; however, there was no return for the legendary number 32 who officially said farewell to fans on a crowded "Sandino Stadium", in Santa Clara to the center of the island.

Just as it has happened to many players, Victor found in coaching a continuity to what he knew well how to do in dozens of turfs where he marveled everyone with his spectacular catches and timed hits. He coached the juvenile national team and in 1999 he jumped to the National Series. The team could not be other than Villa Clara, the orange team to which Victor had dedicated almost two decades of his life.

For eight seasons he reached great wins -442 in total -, although he also suffered heart-breaking setbacks, mainly in the two finals lost against Industriales team; but the print left in the National Series is noticeable, thanks to a very personal and polemic style of coaching.  

His critics were focused in a supposed rudeness with the players and in the application of tactics that went against those usually recommended by the theoreticians; but his supporters –who were actually many - never got tired of praising Victor’s role of leadership and his capacity to put together a team that had lost, for different causes, in the late 90’s most of his main players.

In 2008 Victor debuted as coach in Mexico. He began from the bottom, with the Cafeteros de Cordova, in the Veracrucian Winter League and he lead that team to win the subtitle of the tournament; then came the offer of coaching the Rojos de Veracruz, in 2010; although that job finished before schedule. In 2011 the Petroleros de Minatitlan, of the Mexican Baseball League, trusted Victor; however, in April, with the team in position sixth, it was known the resign of the Cuban.

Not few hoped Victor to take on the direction of any team in Cuba. After three years it was no secret that the days of Eduardo Martin Saura, with Villa Clara had finished; although it was also known that Mesa would prefer not to return to his old team. Maybe it was time to explore other scenarios.

The decision of making Victor coach seems the best for the Crocodiles. The days of glory of Henequeneros and Citricultores only live in the official guides and the memory of staunch fans of Matanzas who remember with sweet nostalgia the brilliant line-ups that dominated the baseball scenario in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Then came the restructuring of the Series and Matanzas, we still don't know how they lost their fighting spirit.

The Crocodiles were able to gather very good teams; but for diverse reasons, among them that the western region reached a strong peak; there were too many changes in the coaching of the team and the line-up also suffered great changes, they were never able to classify for playoffs. The players from Matanzas still hold the no pleasant record of being the only team in the country that has not even played a playoff in the last 19 seasons. Now the team hopes to change that story.

Since his presentation Victor declared that his main objective was finish with his new team among the first eight in the 51 season. To reach that goal the manager expressed his intention of winning more than 50 games. This task looks really difficult, mainly if we analyze that the greatest number of victories obtained by Matanzas, in almost two decades, was 48, in the 41 Series, in year 2002.  

What to expect then from Victor's "new adventure" in Matanzas? The classification in the next season seems a very unlikely result. "My stay could be from two to three years", he said in an interview to the local newspaper 26. That seems an appropriate period for a coach and his staff to get to know the team where very few veterans appear.  

In his stage as a player, every time he reached the third base, the pitcher knew he could not underestimate Victor Mesa, because the man who more times tried to steal the home had the capacity to take advantage of his strength fully -in this case speed - and the opponent’s weaknesses. With Villa Clara, the number 32 used those same skills to become a winning manager. Will he repeat this condition with Matanzas? If not, at least the games that Matanzas will play would certainly be more amusing.

Cubasi Translation Staff