By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
The late Richard Canales had a cool idea 30 years ago: Let’s put together a family softball team.
“He wanted to a chance to watch all the cousins play together,” his son, Victor, remembers.
That first bunch brought together Victor and Richard’s other son, Rick, plus Tommy and Joey Mendez, Mark and Bob Corral.
Three other Corrals – Lenny, Lance and Tony Corral – were sought but weren’t available for the first game. So a couple of “less athletic/old” (Victor’s words) guys were recruited: Heath Mendez, Jesse Mendez and Scott Isch.
The latter “was my brother-in-law; we always said he represented Ron Secaur, the white guy in the band,” Victor explained.
The team soon had a name: Tre Mendez. It refers to three Mendez guys playing in bands in this area during the Big Band era: Bob Mendez, Blas Mendez and Manual Mendez.
“When we formed the Tre Mendez team, many of us cousins were already playing with different teams, so to be playing with family once again was a memorable experience,” Bob Corral said.
“Heath was our catcher and had more passed balls than Caitlin Clark. But did he talk smack to the batters. He was in the right position.”
“And Tommy Mendez being ejected from the elimination game at Turner’s for hitting a home run and smashing someone’s car windshield in the process was a classic.,” Bob recalled.
In June 1996, Tre Mendez finally played a tournament together … and won a lot of games.
The team played in a one-day Fort Wayne Turners tournament and went 4-2, taking third place in a ASA state qualifier.
There were 12 other teams in the event: “Established teams who knew each other, had played together, etc.,” Bob Corral remembers.
“We showed up in our jerseys with mismatched shorts/pants etc. But, from the first game, it was magic. We played a team from Crawfordsville. They had uniforms, jackets and a team bus … and took a run-rule beating. We were all pretty good softball players.
“Tim and Tommy were probably a notch above all of us. But no one wanted too look bad … we ended up playing out of our minds.”
With a chance to win the semifinal game, the tying and winning runs on base were on base. Exhaustion was setting in since Tre Mendez had only 11 players.
“Tim said, ‘I’m swinging for it all,’” Victor recalled. “If he tags a drive that hits the fence, Victor scores and we win. If it goes over, because of a home run limit, we lose.” He hit it out and we lost by one.”
The best part of these family teams was the post-game gathering,” Bob Corral noted. “Instead of packing up our equipment and going home, the whole family would stay out there just enjoying family bonding and sharing family stories … and with the Mendez family there were a lot of stories.”
30 YEARS LATER: A reunion of sorts was recently held at Kekionga Park, one of the highlights being the playing of some softball.
The original team, TreMendez, returned to the field, missing only two members.
The new team, which includes Lance L. Corral , Nick Corral, Carson Canales, Drexel Canales, Timothy Mendez and Victor Canales, won the game, 16-15 in 7 innings.
“We laughed, we loved, and we are proud to say the scholarship fund has already hit $1000,” Victor Canales said.
“Thank you to Rick and Fran Torres for bringing the music, the family for coming out. 30 years….and the tradition continues!”
The families decided to start a fund through the Adams Country Community Foundation to provide a scholarship in the Mendez family name. The first year will be in honor of one of the original members, Heath, who recently passed away.
“Even our new uniforms tell a story,” Victor said.
“The legacy jersey in the fine detail has all the teams that family members played on in Decatur.
“The pants have the song down the side that the ‘Tre Mendez ‘ have on YouTube. There’s 11 notes, signifying the 11 great aunts and uncles (my grandfather’s brothers and sister). The logo is a musical note, with their mustache on it. The Sombrero has 11 green diamonds for the aunts and uncles.
“On the pants it says ‘Representing the Family of Isaac and Alejandra Mendez’. The red jerseys are our ‘throwback’ to the original team.”
According to Victor, $5,000 is the goal.
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