Did You Know, Ted Williams' Mother was born in México ?
Amid all the confusion and the big family
feud on what to do with Ted Williams
body (which will soon be decided by a
Florida judge) and be careful for those
judges in Florida !
History has it that Ted Williams mother
was born in México.
By Amaury Pi-GonzálezYou can do the research and even write
to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown if
you wish to verify.
Ted Williams mother, MarÃÂÂa Hernández
Benzor was born in Ciudad Juárez, México
just south of El Paso, Texas. Therefore,
The Splendid Splinter was of some
Hispanic lineage.
During a Hall of Fame induction ceremony
for the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum
in San Francisco this past February the Museum inducted Ted Williams to their
HOF.
On behalf of Ted Williams, Mr. Bill Nowlin,
a friend of Ted came from the East
Coast to receive the award.
In the 1940’S it was not “politically correct”for
any baseball player to admit of their
Hispanic lineage. It was not until 1947
that Jackie Robinson broke the color
barrier and most of the Latino players
could not play until then, exceptions were
players like Cuban Adolfo Luque, who
won 27 games in 1923 leading the
National League in wins with the Cincinnati
Reds. Luque and other Latinos of fair
skin played in the Major Leagues prior
to 1947. Then after Robinson broke the
color barrier, Orestes”Minnie”Miñoso also
from Cuba became the first Latino of
color to play in the Major Leagues as a
rookie with the Cleveland Indians.
The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum
inducted into its Hall of Fame Orestes
“Minnie”Miñoso that same night in
the Hyatt Regency(Union Square)
San Francisco together with Ted Williams
and Orlando Cepeda.
When Ted learned about him being
honored in the Hispanic Heritage Baseball
Museum he was very proud and told
his representatives to let everybody
know about his mother(who was born
in México). This is a little known fact
among baseball. The more you research
history the more amazing stuff you
will find.
For example, Roberto Clemente, maybe
the greatest player born in Latin America
to play in the Major Leagues was a US
Marine. Many times you read about Clemente
and his Gold Gloves and batting titles
and his great arm, but seldom do you
read about Clemente serving in the
US military. Clemente was born in Puerto
Rico which is considered an associate Free
State of the US.
Our country today is more a melting pot
than ever before. I remember when I
first arrived in the US, back in 1961 and
filled my first Immigration form, there were
only a handful of races to choose from.
Anglo, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. Today that
same form has approximately 8 different
categories as we grow with a population
of close to 280 million people.
Baseball sometimes is like a “private club”
and many things do not come out. But today
we can see with assurance that Ted
Williams had Hispanic blood on his
mother side.
————————————————————–
Amaury Pi-González
is in his eight season
as Spanish Radio Play by Play
Announcer for the S.F Giants.
Previously for 17 seasons did
same for the Oakland Athletics.
During Postseason works for
the ESPN/LBX Spanish Radio
Network as well as Fox Sports.
Also Play by Play for Fox Sports
(English)during the last two
Caribbean World Series of Baseball.
His columns are also available on
www.latinobaseball.com
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