Arizona Diamondbacks continue partnership with Mexico

The MLB celebrates Hispanic heritage the weekend of Sept. 14-16, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have plans with one of its prime partners: Mexico.

Derrick Hall, president of the D-backs, told the Doug and Wolf Show on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station that he plans to go to Hermosillo, Mexico, over Hispanic Heritage Weekend to promote the team’s brand.

“We have really good relationships down there,” Hall said. “We donated jerseys to the kids so that they could wear them in little league, so we’re going to go down there and make an announcement with the Sonoran governor, (Claudia) Pavlovich.”

The team’s association with Hermosillo spans back to the franchise’s inception, and the D-backs played 10 exhibition games in the town from 1998-2015.

Because of the team’s persistent outreach to Mexico, Hall said the town and region have increasingly supported the D-backs.

“It’s really cool to go down there to see all the D-backs banners and jerseys,” Hall said. “I mean it’s like being in Phoenix. It’s like a home game whenever we’re down there.”

Although the team won’t play in Hermosillo next spring, the D-backs will play a couple of games against the Rockies in Monterrey, Mexico, for 2019 Spring Training. Despite not playing in Hermosillo since 2015, Hall said the team has continued its efforts to expand its brand.

“We keep as much of a presence as we can going,” Hall said. “We do have some strong efforts there because we’ve seen it; it does pay off.”

In addition to the Rockies-D-backs series, the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros will all play Spring Training games in Monterrey in 2019.

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