Zenón Ochoa

Zenón Tiburcio Ochoa

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• Born June 23, 1912 in Alvarado, Veracruz Mexico
• Died January 17, 2010

BR register page

Biographical Information

Zenón Ochoa was an early Mexican baseball star.

In 1935, he was the first baseman for Agrario de México when they won the Mexican League title (Mexican League stats are not available prior to 1937). That year, he was part of a team sent by Mexico for the 1935 Central American and Caribbean Games that was rejected on appeal by Cuba due to the presence of professional players in Ochoa, Francisco Torrijos, Alberto Romo Chávez and Fernando Barradas. He was the left fielder for Agrario when they won Mexico's title in 1936.

Ochoa hit .400/~.438/.547 with 14 runs and 14 RBI in 19 games for Mexico City Transito in 1937. He was again part of the Mexican national team in the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games and this time they competed despite professional players (something they would continue to do into the 1940s; he hit .294 to lead the team.

He moved to the Cafeteros de Cordoba in 1938 and batted .306/~.338/.556 with 31 RBI and 7 homers in 38 games for the champions. He was two homers shy of leader Ángel Castro, tying Anastacio Santaella for 2nd in RBI. In '39, he hit .289/~.338/.473 for Cordoba with 44 RBI in 54 games. He was second in RBI, 6 behind leader Castro and second in homers (8), one shy of Castro.

The Veracruz native hit .300/~.329/.457 for the 1940 Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo, seeing reduced time as the league saw an influx of Negro League players. He switched to the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in 1941 and slumped to .259/~.312/.388. With the 1942 Industriales de Monterrey, he hit .269/~.344/.389. He batted .251/~.318/.286 when Monterrey won the title in 1943. In 1944, he batted .255/~.310/.325 for the club. His last season with the team was 1945, when he hit .245/~.322/.340.

He did not play in the 1946 Mexican League, when major league veterans joined the Negro League stars there, reducing opportunities for native Mexicans. In '47, the veteran hit .283/~.327/.457 in 21 games for the Tuneros de San Luis. He was back with the Diablos Rojos in 1948 and hit .254/~.311/.319. The old-timer showed a resemblance to his 1930s performance in contact if not in power with the 1949 Rojos del Águila de Veracruz by batting .336/~.414/.433.

In 1950, the 37/38-year-old Ochoa was with Monterrey briefly (.208/~.250/.333 in 19 G) but spent most of the season with the Potros de Tijuana, managing the team until early August, batting .289/~.356/.416 and played first base, the outfield and even pitched 12 games (he had pitched on occasion in the Mexican League, but never more than 8 games). He returned for a brief stint with the 1954 Mexico City Azul, hitting .189/~.211/.459.

For his LMB career, he had hit .275/~.331/.395 with 242 runs and 245 RBI in 561 games, but statistics are missing for his early seasons, before his production fell. He was 2-2 with a 5.45 ERA in 21 games pitched from 1937-1949.

As if hitting, pitching and managing were not enough, he then added umpire to his resume and won Mexican League Umpire of the Year in 1961. He managed one more season in the minors, with the 1968 Agua Prieta Charros. He lived to age 97.