The logo of the Liga Nacional Puertorriqueña: a big sky-blue circle, bordered in red and white, surrounding a smaller circle of darker blue with white borders, superimposed on which is a red-and-white nautical star that hosts the acronym "LNP" in black block letters.

Gaceta de la Liga Nacional Puertorriqueña

150 years of the best baseball in the universe—all in one place.

Masthead

An unaccustomed visitor to the Gaceta may, with some justification, wonder exactly what class of scribe feels drawn to a project with such a peculiar aim. There is, after all, plenty of baseball that can be warmly and fully chronicled without resorting to reconstructive writing.

Yet there is a coterie of valiant souls for whom the past is a friendlier field more engagingly traveled. Each of these rarae aves, as will soon be obvious, has been permitted to describe themselves.

The headshot for Catalina Suárez Peña. Portrait of a joyful mature Black woman celebrating with a wide smile, captured in a minimalist studio with a textured gray background. She wears a black blouse and hoop earrings, raising both fists in a gesture of excitement and success. Her natural curly hair shows elegant gray highlights. Photo by Eric Oliveira on Unsplash.

Catalina Suárez Peña

Editor-in-Chief (ella)

Head of the unified Archives of the Liga Nacional Puertorriqueña, a network of libraries, musea, and other academic institutions across the island. Former Professor of Archaeology, Universidad Autónoma Capitolina. Knows a lot about decomposition.

PUBLICATIONS
• Con cuero y madera (2012): The first material history of nineteenth-century baseball in Puerto Rico, using gloves and bats collected from descendants of the LNP’s earliest players.

The headshot for Penélope Irizarry Ochoa: a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman smiling, wearing red-rose earrings with hanging rhombuses, and a white shirt with a blue checkered pattern tied at the collar with a dark blue ribbon. Photo by Compagnons on Unsplash.

Penélope Irizarry Ochoa

Managing Editor (ella)

First official Historian of the Liga Nacional Puertorriqueña in the 21st century. Taught early history of the Republic for eighteen years at the Universidad Nacional del Sur, which is how, to her dismay (and that of several coworkers), son Luis and daughter Ofelia are both Señores fans.

PUBLICATIONS
• El primer fanático (2010): Biography of Alfonso Serrano Domínguez, mayor of Corozal (1900-1916) who transformed his love for the Mofongueros into the foundation of a successful municipal platform.
• La reina de Trujillo Alto (2016): Study of Cordelia Pérez de Verdugo, wife of the first sponsor for the Macabeos and mother of the second, during the Fritos’ run of division banners in the 1880s, for which she is generally considered responsible.

The headshot for Alfonso Toro Hurtado: an older white-haired man with a mustache sits pensively in front of what looks like his living room, wearing a white shirt in blue and black check and dark-rimmed glasses. Very much an author headshot. Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash.

Alfonso Toro Hurtado

Contributing Editor (Investigations) (él)

Yes, he’s heard the joke before.1 Covered most of the island’s highland teams from his perch at La voz de la cordillera, before a number of profitable mergers somehow still left him without a job. Probably and unapologetically responsible for the Mulos’ disproportionately vocal fanbase outside of Aguas Buenas.

PUBLICATIONS
• Ahí tirando (1994): Curated collection of essays and articles from La voz de la cordillera, spanning the years 1980 to 1994.
• Aquí seguimos (2000): Take a wild guess. Because more of them are actually good, spans only 1995 to 2000.
• Media vida en la lucha (2019): For a change, a reflection on what it means to be a fan of a team often overlooked by a league obsessed with coastal, big-city organizations.

Gregorio García Covarrubias

Contributing Editor (International) (él)

Nomadic soul; born traveler; baseball diplomat on three continents. Has spent at least a day with every team from Thunder Bay to Punta Arenas, and more than a few years as the only correspondent for Liga Europa baseball that lived in the Western Hemisphere. Fluent in Spanish, French, German and English.

The headshot for Sofía Reinhart Muñoz: a young redheaded woman with green eyebrows, wearing some kind of black shirt or blouse, against a teal background.

Sofía Reinhart Muñoz

Contributing Editor (Immortals) (elle)

Only curator in the history of the Hall of Immortals to wear a Magdeburg Hemispheres pin. Possibly also the only curator in the Hall to have not presented an exhibit they directed: in their case, the Estrellas escondidas series of exhibits, which may have encouraged some recent historical selections to the Hall.

A Latina woman with coffee-brown skin, dark eyes and red curly hair, wearing a red off-shoulder shirt, smiles into the camera while standing in front of an out-of-focus building. Photo by Josué Ladoo Pelegrín on Unsplash.

Margarita Fernández Pagán

Quantitative Analysis Specialist (ella)

Bitter enemy of the sacrifice bunt and intentional walk; loyal friend to the rally-killing home run; reluctant acquaintance of the timely stolen base. Fascinated by the mysteries of nineteenth-century baseball decision-making. Analytics consultant for the Corsarios before La Central advertised the position with the Gaceta.

The headshot for Isidro Montalvo Espinosa. It's a beagle puppy! A dog with a brown face, characteristically divided into two halves by a white line that widens out to the entirety of his snout, a black nose, and dark eyes, a white neck, and brown and black coloring, with a little age-related whitening, looks down and to the right reflectively. Photo by Christian Wilcox on Unsplash.

Isidro Montalvo Espinosa

Broadcast Coordinator (él)

Former fill-in announcer and radio commentator for several teams in the northeast of the island, mostly because the Reyes refuse to answer his repeated applications. Graduate in Broadcast Journalism from the Universidad Caribeña de La Habana. Has yet to meet a microphone into which he does not want to talk.

Headshot for Tomás Agostini Bernal: a young Latine man of some description with dark eyes and hair, wearing thin-rimmed glasses, smiling with his arms crossed over his black shirt. Photo by Fábio Lucas on Unsplash.

Tomás Agostini Bernal

Reader Response Coordinator (él)

The other side whenever readers contact the Gaceta by email, social media, or comment. Worked as a social media manager and email responder for the Universidad Arquipelágica, Empresas Arboleda, and his family’s beloved Insolentes before discovering that, in the nineteenth century, his great-great-grandfather had actually been photographed at a ballgame, cheering for . . . the Corsos. Needless to say, that was enough to interest him in joining the team.

  1. For the non-Spanish speakers in the room: “Toro Hurtado” translates to “stolen bull.” ↩︎