Latino Baseball Legends: An Encyclopedia

386 Pages·2010·3.887 MB·English

by  Lew H. Freedman

Latino Baseball Legends

Latino Baseball Legends
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA
Lew H. Freedman
Copyright2010byLewH.Freedman
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina
review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Freedman,Lew.
Latinobaseballlegends:anencyclopedia/LewH.Freedman.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978 0 313 37867 6(hardcopy:alk.paper) ISBN978 0 313 37868 3
(ebook)
1. Baseballplayers LatinAmerica Biography. I.Title.
GV865.A1F7 2010
796.35709202 dc22[B] 2010019876
ISBN:978 0 313 37867 6
EISBN:978 0 313 37868 3
14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook.
Visitwww.abc-clio.comfordetails.
Greenwood
AnImprintofABC-CLIO,LLC
ABC-CLIO,LLC
130CremonaDrive,P.O.Box1911
SantaBarbara,California93116-1911
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Contents
Preface, ix
Introduction,xiii
PARTI
EssaysonLatino Baseball,1
Countriesof theGame, 3
Cuban BaseballTakes a DarkTurn,4
Dreamsin the DominicanRepublic, 15
Mexico and BigThinkersin Monterrey,24
Venezuelans LoveTheir Baseball Heroes,30
Beisbol—TheLatinGame, 36
Flavor of theGame, 41
Latinosand Blacks CommonFates, 44
UnderageIssues, 51
PARTII
Icons of LatinAmerican Baseball,57
Twenty-five Iconsof Latin AmericanBaseball, 59
Sandy, SandyJr.and Roberto Alomar,59
TheAlouFamily Felipe, Matty,Jesus and Moises,66
Luis Aparicio,73
RodCarew, 80
OrlandoCepeda, 87
RobertoClemente, 94
MartinDihigo,102
OzzieGuillen, 109
AdolfoLuque,117
Juan Marichal, 123
v
vi Contents
DennisMartinez, 130
Edgar Martinez,137
Pedro and RamonMartinez,145
MinnieMinoso, 152
Tony Perez,159
Vic Power, 166
Albert Pujols,173
MannyRamirez,180
MarianoRivera, 187
AlexRodriguez,194
Ivan “Pudge”Rodriguez,202
Sammy Sosa,209
Luis Tiant,216
Fernando Valenzuela, 222
Omar Vizquel,229
PART III
Seventy-fiveMore SignificantLatinAmerican BaseballFigures, 237
Bobby Abreu,239
Ruben Amaro Sr.and Ruben Amaro Jr.,239
Sandy Amoros, 240
JoaquinAndujar, 242
Luis Arroyo, 242
Bobby Avila, 243
CarlosBaerga, 244
Jorge (George) Bell,245
CarlosBeltran, 245
Hiram Bithorn, 247
Bobby Bonilla, 247
Pedro BorbonSr.and Pedro BorbonJr., 248
MiguelCabrera, 249
Bert Campaneris, 250
Buck Canel, 251
JoseCanseco and OzzieCanseco,252
Rene Cardenas,253
Rico Carty,254
Vinny Castilla, 255
Cesar Cedeno, 256
Contents vii
DaveyConcepcion, 256
Jose Contreras,257
Jose CruzSr.and Jose Cruz,Jr., Tommy and Hector Cruz,259
MikeCuellar,259
CarlosDelgado,260
BobbyEstalella (grandfather)and Bobby Estalella (grandson),261
Tony Fernandez, 262
EdFigueroa,263
Julio Franco, 264
Andres Galarraga,265
NomarGarciaparra, 265
Juan Gonzalez,266
VladimirGuerrero andWiltonGuerrero,267
Guillermo(Willie) Hernandez,268
OrlandoHernandez and LivanHernandez,269
Teddy Higuera, 270
JaimeJarrin,271
Julianand StanJavier,272
AndruwJones,273
RobertoKelly, 274
Hector Lopez,275
Javy Lopez,276
Felix Mantilla,277
Jose Mendez,278
OmarMinaya, 279
Bengie,Jose and Yadier Molina,279
Willie (Guillermo)Montanez,280
MannyMota,282
Tony Oliva, 282
Luis Olmo,283
MagglioOrdonez,284
DavidOrtiz, 285
Jose Pagan, 286
Rafael Palmeiro, 287
CamiloPascual and CarlosPascual,288
Tony Pena and Tony FranciscoPena,289
Juan Pizarro, 289
viii Contents
AlexPompez,290
Aramis Ramirez, 291
Pedro Ramos,292
Edgar Renteria,292
JoseRijo, 294
Francisco Rodriguez,294
CookieRojas, 295
MannySanguillen,297
JohanSantana,297
Benito SantiagoJr., 298
Tony Taylor, 299
MiguelTejada, 300
CristobalTorriente, 301
Cesar Tovar, 302
MannyTrillo,303
Zoilo Versalles, 304
Ozzie VirgilSr. andOzzie VirgilJr., 305
Bernie Williams,306
AppendixA: Hispanic Heritage BaseballMuseumHall of Fame, 309
AppendixB: TwelveYoungHispanic Playersto Watch, 315
AppendixC:LatinAmericans in the NationalBaseball Hall of Fame, 319
AppendixD:Roberto ClementeAward,321
Bibliography, 325
Index,341
Preface
ThemostdramaticchangeinMajorLeagueBaseballinthelastthreedecadeshas
beentheriseandinfluenceof LatinAmericanplayers.Whereonceaplayerfrom
Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, or Cuba was a Spanish-speaking
rarityonagiventeam,suchplayersinthe2000sareheavilyrepresentedonMajor
Leaguerosters.
Infact,thenumberofLatinAmericanplayersonopeningdayofthe2009sea-
son approachedone-thirdof all Major Leagueplayers.
Howdidthishappen?Wheredidtheyallcomefrom?Whoarethebestplayers?
And whowere the pioneers that laid the foundation for the hundreds of Latino
players making their way through the minor leagues into the top echelon of the
game?
Written for students and general readers, this encyclopedia explains the his-
toryoftheLatinoplayerinthemajorsdatingtotheearlypartofthetwentiethcen-
tury, the expansion of opportunities for Latin players in the middle part of the
century,andtheexplosionofLatinplayersinthemajorsneartheendofthetwen-
tieth centuryand into theearly twenty-firstcentury.
ThisworkisdividedintothreesectionsfeaturingdifferentaspectsoftheLatin
Americanbaseballexperience.Itencompasseswhatbaseballislikeinthenations
that are the greatest hotbeds of the game outside of the United States and how
what has been perceived as a home-grown American game has really been long
embraced by many of the United States’ neighbors. Part I of the book includes
essaysonbaseballinseveralLatinAmericancountries,alongwithessaysdiscus-
sing a variety of particular topics central to the game. Part II, follows with
extended,alphabeticallyarrangedentrieson25Latinobaseballplayerswhohave
left a lasting mark on the sport. Part III provides concise alphabetically arranged
entries on an additional 75 Latino players. Entries cite print and electronic
resources for further reading. The encyclopedia closes with four appendices on
the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame, thewinners of the presti-
gious Roberto Clemente Award, the presence of Latinos in the National Baseball
ix