Tucson's Old Pueblo Tribe is creating a baseball movement rooted in community

Another chance to bat after striking out.

Another chance to redeem yourself after dropping a ball you should’ve caught.

Old Pueblo Tribe, Tucson’s independent showcase baseball team, believes in second chances, too.

The Tribe has spent the last year giving local aspiring professional baseball players another chance to get to the next level by highlighting their talents in exhibition games in Tucson and Phoenix.

The hope is that their players will have the opportunity to sign with a pro-level club.

“The whole point is to provide a consistent game-rep type of feel for players in a sense of guys, they can go to the gym, they can go to the cages, they can throw bullpens or whatever, but you really got to face batters, or you got to face pitchers, and you got to get live reads off the bat,” said Marcus Catalano, co-founder of Old Pueblo Tribe. 

“And that makes every difference from when you're in an off-season situation. We have guys that are trying to play professional ball, guys that just got out of high school, guys that just got out of college, guys that are in between of not really sure where they're at, but they just want to play at a competitive level.”

In the last year, Old Pueblo has had around 40 players from the Tucson and Phoenix areas join the squad. Five of them went on to sign with professional A-level teams.

“That was the main goal of the whole thing, (getting players) signed to play some professional (A) level ball… and just seeing that let us know, like, ‘Hey, we're doing our job,’” says Gary Mason Jr., co-founder of Old Pueblo Tribe.

Catalano, a Salpointe Catholic alum, and Mason both played for the Tucson Saguaros. As lifelong baseball players, the two wanted to create a platform to help other players achieve their goals. They brought their dream to life last summer.

Don’t get them wrong, though, the Old Pueblo Tribe isn’t a recreational team or a “Sunday team.”

Initially, the Old Pueblo Tribe was going to be part of an up-and-coming baseball league as one of a few traditional teams on the West Coast. But when that fell through on the league’s end, the two decided to pivot to a showcase team that would stay right here in Arizona.

Running a showcase team has its challenges (or perks, depending on how you view it).

Unlike traditional baseball teams that start their season in the spring and end in the fall, Old Pueblo Tribe doesn’t follow a set schedule. Instead, they base their playing time on park and player availability every week.

Because of flexible scheduling, the squad can get together on a weekly basis almost year-round.

However, the team doesn’t have a baseball field to call home, so they rely on playing at city parks.

The Old Pueblo Tribe has played at various parks across Tucson, including Reid Park, Joaquin Murrieta Park, Jesse Owens Park and at the newly renamed Oscar Romero Ballpark at Cherry Field.

The team even played at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium last Fourth of July during the Sun Belt College Baseball League’s All-Star Game. Old Pueblo Tribe plans to play in the All-Star Game again this July Fourth.

The duo hopes the team can eventually play at Kino consistently and become a hometown team for Tucson.

“The Tribe is just the idea of unifying the baseball community at the end of the day,” Catalano says. “We've had professional baseball teams here in town, and we still have one, the Tucson Saguaros, but they're only here in the summer, so it would be nice to have games to go to for the city of Tucson, even during those times when they're not here.”

While baseball is front and center for the team, the Old Pueblo Tribe has grown into something much bigger since its creation last year.

In addition to the Old Pueblo Tribe, Catalano and Mason have created The Tribe Mission, a local nonprofit that supports Southern Arizona youth in sports through development and mentorship.

This includes making sports more accessible to local families and giving back to Tucson kids in other ways, such as donating school supplies to south-side middle and elementary schools.

In Year Two of the organization, they hope to develop more youth-centered projects, like a “read with a baseball player” program at local elementary schools and a yearly scholarship program to help underserved communities pay for athletic fees, like Little League, for example.

“We have a lot of plans,” Catalano says. “Because last year when we started the team, we kind of had to figure out where we're playing, what we're doing, who we're having, who we're playing. All those questions were for last year. Now this year, we have an idea of what we are. We made our games happen for the adults, and then going into this year, we're definitely planning more (for everyone).”

"(We want) to show love to the community,” Mason added, “Let them know, like, ‘Hey, we love the community.’ Everything we do is thought around the community, even the sponsors; we wanted to keep it home-based. The players, most of the players, are home-based. So, we just want the community to know that we have their backs.”

So, what does the future hold for the Tribe organizations? 

Eventually, the Old Pueblo Tribe and Tribe Mission would like to have a place to call their own, like a headquarters where they could host events for kids and adults. 

Everything they do, and will continue to do in the future, keeps the community (plus a little baseball) at the forefront.

With only a year in, this is just the beginning for Tucson’s showcase baseball team.

“When we first started, we had done a lot within those first couple of months,” Catalano says. “(Now) we are going to be OK with certain moves because before it was a lot of uncertainty and waiting around, but now we're definitely moving in the right direction. But I definitely am excited for the next couple of years to come. We both think about it every day, all day, and it's an uphill start for sure, but once we get going, I know for sure it's going to be something that's going to be hard to stop.

“We're trying to help grow our local reputation in this Tucson scene, like the way people remember the Sidewinders or the Toros or the Padres. … So hopefully people are gonna know the Tribe now and won't forget us, because we're planning to be here for a while.”

Keep up with Old Pueblo Tribe at instagram.com/oldpueblotribe.