by Ray Sanchez 08.10.14
Every time I think of the late Pete Leyva I think of The Roaring ‘20s. It’s because that’s when Leyva 
was at the height of his youth and seemed to be enjoying life to the fullest.
A good-looking young man, Leyva got to know and mix with many of the beautiful people of that era. During those years, he rolled dice and dealt black jack at the luxurious Tivoli nightclub in Juarez and later did similar work in Tijuana, Mexico, and Las Vegas, Nevada. He mingled with movie stars. He got to know actress Judy Garland very well. He was thrice married.
BUT WHAT has all this to do with sports? Well, on top of all that, Pete Leyva was a heck of a baseball pitcher. Born in Presidio, Texas, in 1894, Leyva and his family moved to El Paso when he was a tyke. He was so good as a pitcher he was the star of the El Paso professional team. And before that, he won what is perhaps the greatest semi-pro pitching duel ever held in El Paso.
That duel happened in 1919 after Leva had served in the Navy during World I and had returned to El Paso. Ben Leyva, Pete’s son, saved a clipping of an article I wrote in the El Paso Herald-Post many years later. Here it is almost in its entirety and with the headline “El Paso’s Greatest Pitching Duel:”
“MANNY PONSFORD, one of the greatest athletes ever produced here, and Pete Leyva, another El Paso great, trotted onto the field of battle at 2:15 p.m. at the old Rio Grande Park in 1919. Ponsford’s team was loaded with star players, some who went on to the Major Leagues.
“Manny was home from the University of Texas and Pete had just gotten out of the Navy. It was a big game, with the International League lead at stake. The game went on scoreless. There were few threats.
“… After 15 innings each team had only three hits – and no runs. The game had lasted so long that some spectators had gone home, eaten supper and returned to the now darkening park.
“In the first half of the 16th inning, one of Leyva’s teammates walked and stole second. Then Chito Mesa banged a hit to drive him in. Leyva had just one more inning left in him but shut out his foes and walked off with a 1-0 victory.
“It was probably a semi-pro record which stills stand – that of both pitchers going 16 innings without relief.
“Included among Pete’s foes were Bob Neyland and Sam Marshall, both stationed at Fort Bliss and who went on to become U. S. Army generals, and Jimmy York, who went on to the New York Giants.”
YEARS LATER, Leyva actually became owner of the El Paso professional team. There was no professional baseball in El Paso during World War II but in 1946 Andy Cohen and a friend tried to get professional baseball going again. It didn’t work and the team was about to fold in mid-season. Leyva stepped in, put up some of his own cash, and kept it going until Jack Corbett took over the following year.
SO WITH SUCH a record in baseball, Pete Leyva is in both the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame and the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame, right?
Wrong.
Somehow, he has slipped through the cracks and never been nominated to either.
Enter Pete Leyva’s son, Ben. He contacted the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame recently. And he’s been in contact with me about the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame, which will be taking nominations early next year.
What’s more, Ben, now 75, is writing a book about his dad. It should be a doozie.