Baseball in Puerto Rico
By the 1949-50 season, several new ballparks were built, each containing 6,000 or more seats. The largest new stadium was Ponce's Estadio Francisco Montaner with 9,718 seats. Montaner has the distinction of being the first stadium in Puerto Rico that installed an artificial surface field. The installation of lights, which allowed for night games, further boosted stadium attendances. The Stadium was named to honor Francisco "Paquito" Montaner, one of the greatest Puerto Rican pitchers of all times.
Atléticos de San Germán
Founded in the 1930s after the amalgamation of the old San Germán team and the Farmacia Martín team, the team is one of the original BSN franchises and is owned by José "Picky" Servera. The Athletics play their home games at the Arquelio Torres Ramírez Coliseum. The franchise's fourteen championships are tied with the Vaqueros de Bayamón and the Leones de Poncs for the most of any BSN franchise, and account for 16.8% of all BSN championships since the league's tournaments began in 1930. This makes the "Atléticos de San Germán" the most successful basketball club to date of all professional sports franchises in the western part of Puerto Rico and the town itself is known as "La cuna del baloncesto en Puerto Rico" (the cradle of basketball in Puerto Rico).