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por Nancy Hagopian, traducido por Julio Valeriano
Los Pelícanos de Pensacola es el equipo de béisbol profesional de nuestra ciudad, el mismo que tiene como propietarios a Quint y Rishy Studer y que fue comprado en el 2002. Dos años después, en el 2004, los Pelícanos formaron parte del grupo de quipos que conformaba la Liga Central de Béisbol (CBL), conocida anteriormente como la Liga de Texas y Louisiana.
La asociación a la CBL duró hasta octubre del 2005 en el que los Pelícanos se afiliaron a la Asociación Americana de Béisbol Profesional, junto con otros cuatro equipos que pertenecían a CBL (Fort Worth Cats, Coastal Bend Aviators, El Paso Diablos y Shreveport Sports). Los otros cinco equipos que se afiliaron a la misma son: Lincoln Salt Dogs de Lincoln, Nebraska, St. Joe Blacksnakes de St. Joe, Missouri, Sioux City Explorers de Sioux City, Iowa, Sioux Falls Canaries de Falls, South Dakota y St. Paul Saints de St. Paul, Minnesota.
El equipo local ha triunfado y demostrado su capacidad antes diversos oponentes. En el 2004, los Pelícanos ganaron en la División del Este de CBL; en el 2005, tuvieron el segundo mejor récord de la temporada (53-40). El título del mismo año se disputo entre los Pelícanos y Fort Worth Cats, quienes se coronaron campeones luego de una victoria sobre los locales (3-2).
Los Pelícanos han contado con muy buenos jugadores, muchos de ellos reconocidos por la CBL. Por ejemplo: Rafael Álvarez, quien fue reconocido como Jugador del Año. De la misma manera, Mario Valdez fue contratado por la Liga Mexicana Triple A y Edwar Ramírez por el equipo Triple A de Los Angeles Angles, Salt Lake City Stingers. El venezolano Rafael Álvarez, fue invitado al entrenamiento de los Pittsburg Pirates reportándose posteriormente al equipo Doble A de Altoona en Pennsylvania.
Las reglas de la Liga sólo permiten que 22 jugadores integren el equipo al inicio de la temporada. Situación por la cual en nuevo entrenador de los Pelícanos, Kash Beauchamp, se encuentra en la difícil tarea de definir a los integrantes debido a la gran calidad de todos los candidatos. Los jugadores que volverán a integrar el equipo esta año son: Trino Aguilar (tercer base), Carlos Mendoza (segunda base), Juan Rocha (campo derecho), Larry Bethea, Palmer Karr, Josh Courage RHP, Bubba Dobson LHP, Matt Perdue RHP y OF George Branch. Los nuevos jugadores son: Catcher José Yépez, Rolando "Rolo" Avila OF, Clint Sodowsky RHP, Russell Begnaud RHP, Clark Giaradeau RHP, Tim Dorn 1B, Ed Montague OF, Ryan Priddy IF and Bo Brown SS, Charles O’Neal, Tony Pierce, Jake Vose, Sam Smith RHP, and Ben Walker RHP.
El entrenamiento de primavera para la Liga empezó el 29 de abril y el primer juego fue el 11 de mayo en el Parque de los Pelícanos. Debido al limitado tiempo de práctica y la tardanza de algunos de los jugadores más experimentados debido a problemas de visas, permitió que los Pelícanos tengan un difícil inicio de temporada.
Los equipos que se encuentren geográficamente mas alejados jugarán al final de la temporada, mientras los que se encuentran más cercanos jugarán con mayor frecuencia a lo largo de la temporada. Pensacola se enfrentará a los Coastal Bend Aviators y a Shreveport 23 veces, así mismo jugará con los Fort Worth Cats 14 veces, Sioux Fall Canaries 3 veces, El Diablo 18 veces, Lincoln Salt Dogs 4 veces, St. Jose Saints 3 veces, St. Paul Saints 3 veces and the Sioux Fall Explorers 3 veces. Los ganadores de cada división jugarán al final de la temporada.
Desde el inicio del equipo los esposos Studer quisieron contribuir a la comunidad haciendo del béisbol un pasatiempo emocionante y divertido. Scoop, la mascota del equipo, participa junto con
algunos jugadores en
distintos
programas de voluntariado como el Programa de lectura de Scoop.
El Grupo Studer junto con la Universidad Oriental de la Florida y la Fundación del Museo Marítimo son entidades claves para la materialización del ansiado Parque Marítimo. En dicho parque se construirá el nuevo parque de los Pelícanos, aulas para la universidad, un centro de conferencias, museo de deportes, museo marítimo, juegos infantiles, playas publicas, muelle para pesca, restaurantes, tiendas, farol, etc.
Actualmente los Pelícanos juegan en la Universidad Oriental de la Florida y tienen muchas promociones a lo largo de la temporada. Éstas incluyen noches familiares cada miércoles, fuegos artificiales para Fiestas Patrias y muy pronto celebraremos un Noche Latina. Para mayor información llamar (850) 934-8444.
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The 2006
Pensacola Pelicans
by Nancy Hagopian
The Pensacola Pelicans are our very own professional baseball team. The Pelicans are owned by Quint and Rishy Studer who bought the team mid season 2002 from the Southeastern Association of Professional Baseball. Beginning In 2004, the Pelicans became one of the eight teams making up the Central Baseball League (CBL), formerly called the Texas-Louisiana League. The Pelicans continued their affiliation with the CBL through the 2005 season.
In October 2005, the Pelicans joined the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball which is compromised of ten teams divided into northern and southern divisions. Four other former Central Baseball League teams joined the Pelicans in moving to the newly revised American Association for the 2006 season. They are the Fort Worth Cats, the Coastal Bend Aviators, the El Paso Diablos, and the Shreveport Sports. The five other teams to join the league are the: Lincoln Salt Dogs of Lincoln, Nebraska, St. Joe Blacksnakes of St. Joe, Missouri, Sioux City Explorers of Sioux City, Iowa, Sioux Falls Canaries of Falls, South Dakota and the St. Paul Saints from St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Pelicans have continued to enjoy success and have proven to be formidable opponents. In 2004 they advanced to the playoffs winning the CBL Eastern Division. The 2005 season ended with the Pelicans finishing with the second best record (53-40) in the CBL just behind the Forth Worth Cats. The playoff game between the Cats and the Pelicans ended with a 3-2 victory for Fort Worth, the Cats would go on to win the CBL championship.
The Pelicans have been blessed with top notch talent from the beginning. Several of their players have been recognized as CBL Batter or Pitcher of the Week, Player of the Month, or as in the case of Rafael Alvarez, CBL Player of the Year. Mario Valdez, the Pelicans’ standout first baseman was picked up by the highly esteemed Triple "A" Mexican League. The 2005 Pelican Pitcher, Edwar Ramirez’s contract was sold to the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple "A" team, the Salt Lake City Stingers. League leader and Venezuelan native, Rafael Alvarez, was invited to the Major League Sprint Training Team for the Pittsburg Pirates and has reported to the Altoona Double "A" team in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
League rules allow only twenty two players on the roster at the beginning of the season.
New Pensacola Pelican Coach, Kash Beauchamp, had his work cut out trying to whittle the roster down to this number in light of the many talented players trying to make the team. The returning players from last season are: Trino Aguilar playing at third base, Carlos Mendoza at second base, Juan Rocha in right field, Larry Bethea as DH or at first, Palmer Karr OF, Josh Courage RHP, Bubba Dobson LHP, Matt Perdue RHP and OF George Branch
New additions to the starting lineup include Catcher Jose Yepez, Rolando "Rolo" Avila OF, Clint Sodowsky RHP, Russell Begnaud RHP, Clark Giaradeau RHP, Tim Dorn 1B, Ed Montague OF, Ryan Priddy IF and Bo Brown at SS. The Bullpen includes Charles O’Neal, Tony Pierce, Jake Vose, Sam Smith RHP, and Ben Walker RHP.
Spring training for the league began on April 29th and the first game was played May 11th at Pelican Park. The limited practice time for team took its toll particularly since some of the more seasoned players from Venezuela arrived late due to problems acquiring visas. The Pelicans had a rough start this season beginning with no wins and eight losses but quickly turned that around to shut out the Shreveport Sports in three consecutive wins in Shreveport. The addition of many new players to the team took some work to iron out the kinks, however, the team’s performance against the Sports was spectacular dominating the series with solid pitching, hitting and fielding. They outscored the Sports allowing them four runs to Pensacola’s twenty in the three game series.
The teams which are farthest away geographically will be played the least. Conversely, the closer teams such as Shreveport and Coastal Bend will be matched up more frequently throughout the season. Pensacola faces the Coastal Bend Aviators and Shreveport 23 times in
series and will play the Fort Worth Cats 14 times, Sioux Fall Canaries 3 times, El Diablo 18 times, Lincoln Salt Dogs 4 times, St. Jose Saints 3 times, St. Paul Saints 3 times and the Sioux Fall Explorers 3 times. The division winners will face off at the end of the season.
From the beginning the Studers wanted to make a contribution by making baseball a fun and exciting pastime for the community and they have continued to do so with their many contributions to the game and to the community. Scoop, the Pensacola Pelican Mascot, can be seen throughout the community along with players from the team doing volunteer and service work such as Scoops reading program.
The Studer Group along with the University of West Florida (UWF) and Maritime Museum Foundation are the key players in the visionary Community Maritime Park to be located down- town on Pensacola’s magnificent waterfront. The park will be the new home for the Pensacola Pelicans at the stadium and multi purpose sports field, classrooms for UWF, conference center, sports museum, maritime museum, public playground, public beaches, boardwalk, fishing pier, lighthouse tower, restaurants, shops, public parking and more.
The Pelicans, when home, play at Pelican Park located at the University of West Florida.
There are various promotions throughout the season including family night every Wednesday night. There are several planned events including fireworks on the Fourth of July and Latin Night later on in the same month. For ticket information contact the Pelican office at (850) 934-8444.