Mesa-Messi connection runs deep for Victor

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Victor Mesa Jr. was sitting in the chair in front of his locker inside the home clubhouse at Tropicana Field on Monday afternoon, locked in on the television screen a few feet away. The room was quiet, save for a few scattered conversations, until suddenly it wasn’t.

After becoming the leading scorer in FIFA World Cup history earlier in the afternoon, Lionel Messi kicked in his second goal of the day to complete Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Austria. That gave Messi 18 for his World Cup career, two clear of Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the all-time record.

Already on the edge of his seat, Mesa leapt to his feet, shouted “GOAL!” and started a lengthy, involved high-five/handshake with Junior Caminero. The Cuban outfielder had no personal stake in the result of the match itself, but you probably won’t find a bigger fan of Messi in a baseball clubhouse.

“He’s my idol,” Mesa said last week in the visitors dugout at Dodger Stadium.

Mesa, 24, has three tattoos of Messi. His infant son’s middle name is Messi. In 2021, he found out where Messi was staying in Miami, waited outside the house with other fans in hopes of meeting him and gave Messi’s nephew one of his jerseys. The next day, Mesa was shocked to receive a picture of Messi holding the black No. 10 Marlins jersey with Mesa’s name on it.

“I called my family crying, because that's something big for me. And they said, 'What happened? What happened?' I said he sent me the picture with [him] holding my jersey,” Mesa recalled. “The greatest of all time lifted my jersey, you know what I mean? He knows who I am and everything.”

One of Mesa’s three Messi tattoos is that photo, inked onto his thigh.

“There's nothing better than that,” Mesa said, before pausing and correcting himself. “I mean, meeting him. I haven't met him yet.”

Mesa’s fandom dates back to the time he was 5 or 6 years old, growing up with his brother (and fellow Marlins signee), Victor Victor Mesa, in Cuba. Mesa grew fond of Messi’s FC Barcelona squad. His brother gravitated toward Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid.

Mesa said he was initially drawn in by Messi, who turns 39 on Wednesday, because “he’s smaller than everyone, and he’s better than everyone.” Following his career extremely closely, Mesa said he’s come to appreciate the way that Messi treats people and cares for those around him.

He also respects Messi’s persistence, specifically how he kept at it when Argentina had three straight runner-up finishes in international competition, then wound up winning the 2021 Copa America and 2022 World Cup. It was after the Copa America final that Mesa made his play to meet Messi, and his third Messi tattoo is of him kissing the World Cup.

“I know how hard, even if you have talent, you’ve got to work,” Mesa said. “I admire the way that he failed, he failed, he failed with his country, and people were on him, like critical, really bad on him when he was trying his best. Sometimes it’s not for you. God has plans. He tried, he tried, he tried in the five or six opportunities that he had. He couldn’t do it.

“I put it in my perspective. It doesn’t matter how I’m doing. I’m going to keep trying, trying, trying.”

Mesa, who came to the Rays in an early February trade with the Marlins and joined the big league roster on May 24, said he will occasionally stun his teammates with his comprehensive knowledge of his career. When they ask how he could possibly know something, he said, he simply responds, “Bro, I’m a true fan.”

“I like football a lot. Since I was a kid, I followed every game,” Mesa added. “I haven't missed anything.”

Mesa saw Messi play in person for the first time at an Inter Miami match in 2024, shortly after achieving another dream: becoming a U.S. citizen. He’s hoping to see Messi claim another World Cup -- and he’s off to a fine start with the defending champions, notching a hat trick against Algeria and two goals against Austria.

And Mesa would really like to meet his idol. If it ever happens, there’s another Messi tattoo in store.

“Maybe I've got room there on the back of the hamstring,” Mesa said, smiling. “The one where I meet him.”