Indios de Ciudad Juárez (minor league)

The Indios de Ciudad Juárez were a Minor League Baseball club which played in several leagues during 23 seasons spanning 1946–1984. The Indios were based in Ciudad Juárez, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The team also was known as the Ciudad Juárez Indios or the Juarez Indios. The team's name was chosen to honor statesman Benito Juárez, who described himself as the son of Indians of the primitive race of the country.

Organized Mexican baseball started in 1937, when a league featuring teams from the cities of México, Tampico and Veracruz played a modest 25 game schedule. Gradually increasing the amount of games, the independent Mexican baseball circuit was playing nearly a 100-game schedule by the end of World War II.

At the beginning, teams in the Mexican League, which played in the winter, included on their rosters baseball stars of the Negro National League. Prohibited from playing in Organized Baseball, the African-Americans ballplayers were welcomed and excelled in Mexico. For instance, in 1938 Martín Dihigo posted an 18-2 record and a 0.90 earned run average as a pitcher, while winning the batting title with a solid .387 average. Two years later, Cool Papa Bell won the Triple Crown, while batting .437 with 12 home runs and 79 runs batted in.

In 1946, the Mexican National League was founded and joined the ranks of Organized Baseball as a Class B circuit. The league included six franchises that represented Mexico City (Aztecas), Chihuahua (Dorados), El Paso (Tejanos), Saltillo (Peroneros), Torreón–Gómez Palacio (Laguneros), and Ciudad Juárez (Indios). Unfortunately, it was to be a short-lived experiment because of competition from an independent Mexican League. This operation, bankrolled by Mexican entrepreneur Jorge Pasquel, placed franchises in two of the same cities, Mexico City and Torreón, forcing the Class B competition to fold. As a result, the MNL México and Torreón clubs retired in late April and the remaining of the league collapsed on May 27, just when Juárez and Chihuahua were tied in first place with a 23-21 record. After that, the outlaw Mexican League also became a threat to Major League Baseball for the rest of the decade.

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