Tigers of the Licey

The Licey Tigers is a team belonging to the Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic (LIDOM). It is the most successful club in the Dominican winter circuit, having to its credit 23 national championships and 11 Caribbean Series.

It was founded in 1907 and they play their home games at the Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, also home to their historic rival the Leones del Escogido.

Tigres del Licey was the first team to win the Dominican League crown in 1951 (the same year it was founded). Eventually, he also became the first representative from Quisqueyan to participate and win a Caribbean Series (year 1971), managing to win the championship undefeated.

In 2008 they became the first and only runner-up team in their league to be crowned Caribbean Champions. The 2008 Caribbean Series was the 50th edition of the Caribbean classic, which was played at the Cibao Stadium. That year was without the participation of Puerto Rico, which canceled its baseball season due to financial problems and was replaced by runner-up Dominican Republic.

Many of the best Dominican players and Major Leaguers have been part of the long history of the Tigres del Licey, including Hall of Fame players Pedro Martínez and Vladimir Guerrero.

History

By 1900, baseball in the Dominican Republic was only a minor pastime, due to the strong political turmoil in the country at the time. But in 1907, baseball was increasing in popularity with two amateur teams (Ozama and Nuevo Club) being the most popular. Los Tigres del Licey was the first attempt to form an antagonistic team for the two already established.

The team was founded as a result of a meeting that took place in the house of Vicente María Vallejo, on El Conde street, in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo, on November 7, 1907. The founding members were: George and Cuncún Pou, Luis and Federico Fiallo, Luis and Pinchán Vallejo, Luis Castillo, Salvador Piñeyro, Álvaro Álvarez, Tutú Martínez, Ángel and Chichi Mieses, Arturo Perdomo, Bi Sánchez, Virgilio Abreu, Alberto Peña, Arturo Nolasco and Tulio Piña. Many of the team's founding members were also part of the team's first roster.

Their first uniform was khaki and it was many years later when they acquired one that had small vertical lines for which the people called them striped and later in the writings of the time they compared it with the tiger, the name of which the Licey did not know. never separated The color blue would arrive in the following years, completing Los Gloriosos Tigres Azules del Licey its historical identification.

The next 15 years after its founding, Yunior and the team became so dominant that an agreement was made between three other competing teams (Los Muchachos, San Carlos and Delco Lite) to form a new team, comprised of their best players, in order to beat the Tigres del Licey. This team, called Leones del Escogido, still exists and shares the same stadium in Santo Domingo with the Tigres del Licey.

During what Dominicans call the "first stage" Throughout the country's baseball history, games were played only during the day. The "second stage" It didn't start until dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo built the Estadio Quisqueya in 1955, a brilliantly designed and built stadium for the time. With the stadium came the lights, that era was considered the golden age of baseball in the Dominican Republic. They are the current owners of the Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal.

Origin of name

The name Licey was suggested by the Mocano Pancho Fiallo, brother of Luis, one of the founders; on the basis that it was a five-letter name, which facilitated its visibility on the front of the players' uniform, and in recognition of a small stream that moved silently between the cities of La Vega and Moca. Pancho Fiallo overheard the conversation casually since it had nothing to do with the meeting and suggested the name because he had a girlfriend whom he visited and always crossed that little stream to get to his beloved's house.

Some Presidents

• José Fernández (1951-1952)
• Ignacio Guerra Abreu (1953-54, 1955-57)
• Manuel Alsina Puello (1957-1958)
• Cuso García (1958-1960)
• Federico González (1960-61)
• Monchín Pichardo (1961-65)
• Johnny Naranjo (1966-68)
• Miguel A. Hernández (1968-69)
• Tancredo Aybar Castellanos (1969-1971)
• Monchín Pichardo (1971-73)
• Álvaro Borras L. (1973-74)
• Monchín Pichardo (1974-1992)
• Tancredo Aybar Castellanos (1992-95)
• José Manuel Fernández (1995-1997)
• Miguel Heded Azar (1997-2002)
• Emigdio Garrido (2002-05)
• José Manuel "Pepe" Busto (2005-2011)
• Fernando Ravelo Álvarez (2011-2013)
• Miguel Guerra Armenteros (2013-2015)
• Miguel Ángel Fernández (2015-2017)
• Jaime Alsina (2017-2019)
• Sunday Pichardo (2019-2021)
• Ricardo Ravelo Jana (2021-2023)

Championships

23

Caribbean Series

Los Tigres del Licey are the team, regardless of the country of origin, that has won the most championships in the Caribbean Series with eleven (11) and is the one that has participated on the most occasions (21).

Similarly, it is the team that has won the most times undefeated (3).

Year	Headquarters	Récord
1971	San Juan, Puerto Rico	6-0
1973	Caracas, Venezuela	5-1
1977	Caracas, Venezuela	6-0
1980	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	4-2
1985	Hermosillo, Mexico	5-1
1991	Miami, United States	5-0
1994	Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela	5-1
1999	San Juan, Puerto Rico	5-2
2004	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	5-1
2008	Santiago, Dominican Republic	5-1
2023	Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela	6-3

Records in finals

Licey has beaten all LIDOM teams in final series, beating them for life (with the exception of the Toros del Este, with whom they have a tie).

Rivalry with the Lions of the Chosen One

When the Tigres del Licey' was founded in 1907, the teams Ozama and Nuevo Club vied for supremacy of baseball in the country. The Licey was taking ground from them until they made them disappear.

There were no rivals for the Licey at that time, which led to the merger of three of the teams of the time, San Carlos, Los Muchachos and Delco Lite, giving rise, with selected baseball players from those three teams, to the birth of the Leones del Escogido.

The Licey and the Escogido (as they are popularly called) have since become the great rivals of the capital and the country, having united in 1937 to form the team that was called Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo.

From then on, the practice of professional baseball came to a standstill until 1951, beginning a new stage that was solidified in 1955 with the inauguration of the Quisqueya Stadium.

City Champ

At that time the Tigres del Licey and the Leones del Escogido were called the "eternal rivals". The confrontations between the two teams became increasingly popular among the Dominican fans, even qualifying for the regular series as "City Champ" or "City Champion". For many fans, the best consolation in losing a championship was winning the "City Champ".

At the end of the regular season of the 2022-2023 Tournament, the Tigres del Licey have to their credit 31 City Champs and the Leones del Escogido also have 31 and have been tied seven times.

Rivalry with the Águilas Cibaeñas

Due to the decline of the Leones del Escogido, starting in the 1990s a great rivalry grew between the Tigres del Licey and the Águilas Cibaeñas, a team based in the city of Santiago of the Knights. These clashes between the two teams are almost comparable to those of Licey and Escogido from previous years, although with a more emotional meaning due to the fact that they belong to the two largest cities in the country..

Retired numbers