Rene Torres is a retired University of Texas at Brownsville, and Texas Southmost College assistant professor. He has a long history in the Rio Grande Valley as an educator, sports historian and humanitarian, with a wealth of community service to his credit.
Point Isabel takes crown in 1931
The Pelicans secured the Valley championship trophy after ending the regular season in a three-way tie with Rio Hondo and Edinburg. The boys from Hidalgo dropped out of the pennant race, leaving the two Cameron County teams to battle.
The Port Isabel nine did a number on Rio Hondo, taking the series and winning the Valley amateur title. The Pelicans were composed largely of ex-San Benito Saints, who were Valley Champions for four consecutive years in the early 1920s.
After conquering their Valley foes, the Pelicans were ready for a bigger challenge. It came from the Mo-Pac nine from Houston.
The big city aggregation was advertised as one of the strongest semi-pro teams in the state, runners-up in the Houston City League. The team listed several ex-professionals and up-coming youngsters on their roster.
Pitching for Houston was “Jubilo” Clements, a former Brownsville boy who came here in 1926 from the University of Texas. In his “heyday,” Clements threw a mean roundhouse curve ball with a blistering straight ball. Those who knew him anticipated that he would dominate the local boys.
The Pels had their pitching sensation in Kring, a standout with a lot of slow stuff to keep the powerful Mo-Pac batters off balance. His battery mate was Donaho, the husky San Benito receiver.
The game was played in Brownsville’s Tiger Park, which was revamped and in excellent condition. The park was the home of the Snakeville Tigers located on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Academy.
By 1938 the diamond became the house of the original Brownsville Charros, who participated in the Rio Grande Valley Class “D” professional league.
The men in blue “called play ball,” sharply at 3 p.m. and the historical affair began with both teams bringing their best hickory to the plate.
As the game progressed, pitching was less than expected as both teams rounded the bases with frequency, placing a lot of crooked numbers on the board early in the game.
When the last pitch was delivered, the Pelicans used two twirlers to secure an 11-8 victory. Kring and Kachtik gave up nine hits while Houston’s Clements and Methea were nicked with a wave of safety 14 in total.
The Pels made a name for themselves on that day as they defeated one of the best teams in the state.