Noel Areas

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Areas and the second or maternal family name is Balmaceda.
Noel Areas
Manager
Born: (1941-09-21)September 21, 1941
León, Nicaragua
Died: June 5, 2016(2016-06-05) (aged 74)
Managua, Nicaragua
Medals
Men's baseball
Manager for  Nicaragua
Baseball World Cup
Silver medal – second place 1974 St. Petersburg Team
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Italy Team
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 1983 Caracas Team
Central American and Caribbean Games
Silver medal – second place 1998 Maracaibo Team
Silver medal – second place 2014 Veracruz Team
Central American Games
Gold medal – first place 1977 San Salvador Team
Gold medal – first place 1986 Guatemala City Team

Pánfilo Noel Areas Balmaceda (September 21, 1941 – June 5, 2016) was a Nicaraguan baseball player and manager. His extensive success as a manager in domestic competitions earned him the nickname "El Señor de los Anillos," or "The Lord of the Rings."[1][2] Areas was also a longtime manager of the Nicaragua national baseball team.

Career

Born in the Ermita neighborhood of León, Areas played baseball in his youth, but never played professionally. Heberto Portobanco dismissively described him as a "little accountant" ("contadorcito") rather than a manager.[3] Indeed, he was working as an accountant in the office of the Metropolitanos de León when he was approached to work as a coach for the team; midway through the 1973 season, he was promoted to manager.[4]

Areas won a championship in the Nicaraguan First Division (the modern Germán Pomares Championship) in his first season, defeating Chinandega, Carazo, and San Fernando in the finals. Areas ultimately won 11 titles managing in the First Division; eight of them with León (1973, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1997), one with Chinandega (1974), and two with Bóer (1977, 2010).[1]

Areas became the first manager to win a professional baseball title in Nicaragua in nearly 40 years, when he led the Leones de León to a title in the inaugural season of the reformed Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League in 2005. He won a second championship in 2007, this time with Indios del Bóer, becoming the first manager to win more than one professional titles since Calvin Byron in 1966.[5]

In international competition, Areas first managed Nicaragua at the 1974 Amateur World Series, held in St. Petersburg, Florida; he led Nicaragua to an undefeated record in group stage play, but fell to the United States in controversial fashion in the best-of-three championship series.[6][7] He again led Nicaragua to a silver at the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas. Areas twice won the gold at the Central American Games, in El Salvador in 1977 and Guatemala in 1986.[6] He last managed the national team at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.[6][8]

Death and legacy

Areas died of cardiac arrest on June 5, 2016.[9] Over the course of his 42-year managerial career in the Pomares, professional league, and international competition, Areas compiled a record of 1,722 victories, according to sports researcher Martín Ruiz Borge.[1] He was inducted into the Nicaraguan Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c "NOEL AREAS, EL SEÑOR DE LOS ANILLOS DEL BÉISBOL NICARAGÜENSE". BeisbolGPO.net. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  2. ^ "Noel Areas deja un gran legado al beisbol nicaragüense". La Prensa. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  3. ^ ""Sé que los leoneses me quieren pese a la barrida"". La Prensa. 12 February 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  4. ^ "De contador a manager, Noel Areas, el mejor dirigente de Nicaragua". Nicaragua Actual. 18 January 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  5. ^ "Resumen: Noel Areas ganó dos de los tres primeros campeonatos". LBPN.com. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "Hasta Pronto, Noel". Deportes Canal 4. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  7. ^ Jordan, Pat (9 December 1974). "Dubious triumph in Florida". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  8. ^ Stubbs, Dave (14 July 2015). "Expos legend El Presidente made for diamond magic at 1999 Winnipeg Pan Am Games". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  9. ^ "Una leyenda nica nos abandonó, ¡Gracias por tanto!". TN8. 5 June 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  10. ^ "Pura magia". La Prensa. 22 September 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
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