Latino baseball players and their contributions to professional sports

¶ … Latino players in major league baseball. Specifically, it will concentrate on information about the players' struggles, fame, and fans.

LATINO BASEBALL PLAYERS

Latinos playing professional baseball in the United States is nothing new. Puerto Rican Roberto Clemente, the first Latin American to enter baseball's Hall of Fame, began his major league career in 1954 with a Dodger farm team in Montreal, and there were others before him, but not many. "Thus far, Puerto Rico had produced few major league players, and none of superstar caliber. Hiram Gabriel Bithorn had joined the Chicago Cubs in 1942 and pitched four seasons. Luis Rodriguez Olmo became a popular outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943, winding up his big league career in 1951 with the Boston Braves. But they were light-skinned Latins who had passed through the game's color bar" (Wagenheim 33).

The Latinos really started showing up in the big leagues in the 1980s, and one of the most famous of that era was Mexican Fernando Valenzuela, who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and had a mean fast ball, and unusual eyes to the sky delivery. Fernando was one of the first really popular Latino baseball players, and his success brought a league of Latinos to play in the U.S.

By the 2002 World Series, Latinos were such a hit in baseball; the series was broadcast in 14 languages to 200 countries, including number Spanish-language stations (Pi-Gonzalez). There were so many standout Latino players; it was difficult to concentrate on only one, but the Angel's Venezuelan, Francisco Rodr'guez, stood out for his outstanding pitching at the young age of 20. He only played five games in the regular 2002 season, and was called mainly to pitch in the series.

Latino players were abundant in this World Series. Maybe the two most requested were a rookie and a veteran. For the Giants the super-veteran 38-year-old catcher from Ponce, Puerto Rico, Benito Santiago. For the Angels the youngest man in the Major Leagues, 20-year-old from Caracas, Venezuela, Francisco Rodr'guez. In Anaheim they call him K-Rod. And believe me, this kid conducts himself like a real veteran. When I asked him about the World Series he told me "It was a real thrill for me to be here, but I still have a job to do" and he did. Others in this Series from Latin America: Livan Hernandez and coach Carlos Alfonso of the Giants from Cuba, Felix Rodr'guez, Manny Aybar and Pedro Felix from the Giants and all from the Dominican Republic. Young Giants Venezuelan catcher Yorbit Torrealba, Puerto Rican infielder Ram n Mart'nez. From the Angels, we had the first Latino brothers to be in a World Series since the Dominican Alou brothers with the Giants in 1962, Benji and Jose Molina. Dominican Ram n Ort'z, Mexican infielder Benji Gil and Venezuela pitching phenom Francisco Rodr'guez with Alfredo Griffin first base coach for the World Champion Angels, he from the Dominican (Pi-Gonzalez).

The fan base for Latino players has been steadily growing, there is even a web site devoted exclusively to Latino players at http://www.latinobaseball.com/,where fans can log on and learn all about their favorite players, including lifetime stats, and Donruss, the legendary baseball card company, is creating a series of Spanish-language collectible baseball cards. As more Latino players move into the majors, Latino managers are making their mark, too. Felipe Alou was recently hired by the San Francisco Giants to take over the manager job vacated by Dusty Baker after the World Series. "Alou was also the fourth Latin American manager born in the Caribbean Islands, the other are Mike Gonzalez, Preston G. mez and Cookie Rojas all from Cuba. Later Tany Perez (Cuba)and Tony Pena (Dominican Republic) became the fifth and sixth respectively" (Pi-Gonzalez). Alou was also the first Latino to manage an All-Star game in 1995.

It has not always been easy for Latino players to gain acceptance in baseball as Alou can attest. "In his first season he was assigned to play on a team in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but was forced to leave after only five games due to racial segregation. In 1963 he wrote an article in Sport magazine detailing the prejudice Latin players faced in the United States" (Partin et al. 24).