Víctor Mesa

Víctor Mesa Martínez (born February 20, 1960) is a Cuban baseball manager and former player. Nicknamed "El Loco," he played 19 seasons in the Cuban National Series from 1978 to 1996, all with Villa Clara, and was a longtime fixture of the Cuba national baseball team. He has since managed in the National Series and with the national team, including at the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Playing career Mesa earned a reputation as an aggressive baserunner, leading the SNB in stolen bases on six occasions (1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1989, and 1992). He also participated in several Selective Series with Las Villas, earning eight more stolen base titles for a total of 14 over the course of his playing career. In the National Series, he posted a .318 batting average and slugged 273 home runs. He was named most valuable player at the 1984 Amateur World Series, and is a one-time Olympic gold medalist for baseball, won at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona; he led all hitters at the 1992 Games in batting average (.560) and RBIs (9). Mesa left Minatitlán after posting an 11–15 record.

In 2011, Mesa took the reins of Matanzas, leading the team to the finals twice, in 2013 and 2014; it lost both years, to Villa Clara and Pinar del Río, respectively. After six seasons with Matanzas, he left to manage Industriales in the 2017–18 Cuban National Series; Mesa led the team to a fourth-place finish, but resigned after he alleged he was overlooked by the Baseball Federation of Cuba for a coaching position with the national team.

Personal life His sons, Víctor Víctor Mesa and Víctor Mesa Jr., defected from Cuba in 2018. Both became professional baseball players in the Miami Marlins organization.