Look at the starting lineup for the
American League All Star team
and you will see two Rodríguez,
one Martínez one Ramírez and
one Guerrero and on the National
League Pujols, Rentería and
company, plus the second
string. This is “béisbol”and
here: Se Habla Español…
Not only quantity, but an
argument could be made
that of the top 10 players
in Major League Baseball
over half are Latinos.

By Amaury Pi-González
San FranciscoPresently around
30% of all Major League
players are Latinos, but
that is just the tip
of the iceberg, here
below are the Minor
League stats as of
this MLB All Star break:

There are 6,117 minor
leaguers born outside
the 50 US States,
that translates to
47.6 % of all players
in the minor leagues
today:

Dominicans 1,442
Venezuelans 803
Puerto Ricans 127
Canadians 106
Mexicans 102
(Thanks to Candace Oehler
baseball Journalist in the
Seattle area for these
stats)

Above stats will increase
significantly once the
Castro system of
government in Cuba
(the largest island in
the Caribbean)
ceases to exist and
players -like prior
to the 1960’s- will
be able to travel
freely in and out of
the island. I think
there is a bigger
chance that Cuba
soon will be Democratic
than the USA would be
Communist, so I am
just ‘playing the odds’.
When Cuba turns around
and joins the Free World
then you will see another
10% of Latinos in the
Big Leagues.
I make a prediction
right here, Cubans
will then at least
tie the number
of Dominicans
playing in the Major
Leagues.

Cuba would be the
perfect place to have
a Major League
franchise, not only
because it has always
been a baseball crazy
country but because
it is just a “cup of coffee”
flight away from Miami.
Let me put it in perfect
perspective: Havana to
Miami is like
San Francisco to
Sacramento.

Walk into most clubhouses
in any Major League team
and you can hear Salsa,
Merengue. Cumbia,
Bachata music
playing loud and clear.
In Seattle they even
play “Raegeton”which
is like a Puerto Rican
semi rap with a Latin
beat. Hiram Bocachica
is the king of that type
of music in Seattle.
(Of course Seattle can
be made an exception
since their season ended
2 months ago) so is
either music for
everybody or free
colonoscopies. In
Seattle they are
past the stress level.

In the 1970’S some
managers prohibited
players from playing
dancing music in
Spanish in the clubhouse
and if we go back in
history into the 1950’S
there are players that
would tell you that
their managers didn’t
even let them
speak Spanish.
It was English only…

My opinion is that
some of those
managers were
jealous of the way
the Latinos could
dance, since they
had “no ritmo”.
(Just kidding)Some
did, I think Dick
Williams was good
dancing Polka.
Not to stereotype
these Latino players,
but the great majority
love this country and
many become
Naturalized Citizens
of the USA. Like Manny
Ramírez did just over
a month ago and that
same day he ran into
the field flying an
American flag for
all to see, he is
proud of his
American citizenship.

But the demographics
of baseball have changed
greatly. Inner city kids
in the USA are much
more into basketball,
you can drive in
the suburbs of some
big cities and you will
see more kids
playing Soccer than
Baseball. But that is
not the case in
Dominican Republic,
Panamá,Venezuela,
Puerto Rico,Cuba
Nicaragua and
even parts of
México and Colombia
were baseball still
as popular as it was
among kids here in
the US 40 years ago.
In the Dominican
Republic future Sammy
Sosa’s and Pedro
Martinez’s are playing
everyday with one goal,
making it to the
“Grandes Ligas”.
Venezuela is one
country that recently
has produced great
players, since Luis
Aparicio was inducted
into Cooperstown they
have produced players
of great caliber: David
Concepción,Omar Vizquel,
Magglio Ordoñez,Andrés
Galarraga, Tony Armas.
manager Ozzie Guillén
and a kid in Miami that
could be the best young
talent of all Miguel Cabrera.

The warm weather all
year ’round creates
the perfect enviroment
for development of
these Latino future
stars that are invading
the USA Minor Leagues
Many Major League
teams followed the
Dodgers and instituted
their own baseball
academies in those
countries and most
of the young Latin
stars today when
they arrive in the
USA speak
enough English to
give an interview.
(Notice that Japanese
stars have their own
interpreters,but few
Latino players need
an interpreter).

Inside the executive
offices of baseball guys
like Omar Minaya(Expos)
Al Avila(Detroit)and
Tany Pérez(Marlins)
are also in the job
of making decisions and
I would not be surprised
than soon other Latino
millionaires would follow
in the steps of Arturo
Moreno who bought the
Anaheim Angels and
is ahead of the Dodgers
in attendance in the
huge L.A. market.
There was no coincidence
that just weeks after
Moreno bought the
Angels, the Dodgers
announced that they
hired Fernando Valenzuela
to work as color analyst
on their Dodger En
Español station with
my good friend and
Hall of Fame announcer
Jaime Jarrín. The
L.A. market is a huge
Hispanic market and
is becoming an extremely
competitive market as
far as baseball is
concerned. A good friend
of mine who covers the
L.A. teams recently
told me: “These last
Subway Series between
the Angels and Dodgers
was more than a competition
among the players, both
front offices are fighting
to see who can really
promote better their
team/product in
a market of over
10 million people”.
(By the way in 1980
and 1981 when Valenzuela
pitched the Spanish radio
of the Dodgers had higher
ratings than the English
station of the Dodger
with legendary Vince Scully)

The 75th All Star
Game in Houston
July 13th will have
a very distintive
Latino flavor.
Houston, Texas
is one of those cities
with a great Hispanic
Heritage and it will
be demostrated at
this mid-summer
classic. It will be
televised and broadcast
over the radio to over
350 million people
all over Latinamerica.
Fox has a Spanish
telecast for the USA
and Latinamerica and
ESPN Radio Español
covers hundreds of
stations in the US and
abroad.
–
On my last article I
didn’t wanted to say
that everybody in
Boston was racist,
but that as I have
traveled around this
country doing baseball
and for 7 years with the
Warriors doing basketball
I experienced more of
the racism in Boston
that in most other
big cities. Of course
there are racist people
anyplace. I will bet you
even in Berkeley you
could find 2 or 3.
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