Latin Flavor at the 2017 All-Star Game

I started watching the baseball All-Star Game in 1975 and, in every one since, one of my favorite moments has always been the pre-game introductions, when each of the players get to tip their cap, and for some, essentially introduce themselves to a national television audience for the first time.

It also often happens that an additional ceremonial moment before the game begins has a meaningful impact as great as the game itself. The best ever was in 1999, at Fenway Park, when MLB introduced its All Century team. Dozens of all time greats were gathered on the field at the same time, highlighted by the long ride in a golf cart by Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams, then 80 years of age. I was working at ESPN at the time, was at the game, met the Splendid Splinter earlier in the day, and I still consider that opening ceremony one of the five highlights of my 12 years at the network.

It wasn’t quite the same as the 1999 ceremony but, for the first All-Star Game ever played in Miami, a city with a majority Hispanic/Latino population, it was wholly appropriate that Major League Baseball decided to honor the Latin-born members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in a pre-game ceremony.

With the exception of Venezuela’s Luis Aparicio, all of the living members of the Hall of Fame who were born in Latin American countries or in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico were introduced to the fans and national television audience at Marlins Park. They then proceeded to throw out eight simultaneous ceremonial first pitches to members of the 2017 All-Star team, all Latin-born players themselves.

• Vera Clemente, the widow of the great Roberto Clemente (from Puerto Rico and an All-Star in 12 different seasons), threw to fellow Puerto Rican Yadier Molina, the 8-time All-Star catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.
• The Dominican Dandy, Juan Marichal, an All-Star for 9 seasons, threw to fellow Dominican Robinson Cano, an 8-time All-Star himself.
• Panama’s Rod Carew, an 18-time All-Star, threw to the hometown Miami Marlins’ Marcell Ozuna (another Dominican native).
• Another Puerto Rican legend, Orlando Cepeda, an All-Star for seven different seasons, threw his first pitch to countryman Carlos Correa.
• Tony Perez, a 7-time All-Star, member of the two-time champion Big Red Machine and former manager of the Marlins, threw to journeyman Yonder Alonso (also from Cuba and appearing in his first Mid-Summer Classic).
• The third Puerto Rican native to get a plaque in Cooperstown was Roberto Alomar, who was invited to the All-Star Game 12 times; he threw to another Puerto Rican, the Cleveland Indians’ young star Francisco Lindor.
• Dominican-born Pedro Martinez, inducted to the Hall of Fame 2 years ago and a member of 8 All-Star teams, threw to fellow Dominican Nelson Cruz.
• The great catcher Ivan Rodriguez (also from Puerto Rico), a member of the 2003 World Series champion Marlins and 14 All-Star squads, threw his pitch to another durable young catcher, Venezuela’s Salvador Perez, making his fifth consecutive All-Star appearance.

The only missing Latino Hall of Famer, the 83-year old Aparicio, stayed home in his native Venezuela, sending out a Tweet in Spanish that translated to “Thanks MLB for the honor at the All-Star Game but I can’t celebrate when young people of my country are dying for their freedom.”

Of, of course there was a game and, in a twist ordained by the baseball gods, all three runs in the American League’s 2-1 victory were delivered by Latin-born players. The Minnesota Twins’ Miguel Sano (also from the Dominican Republic), who was the runner up in Monday’s Home Run Derby, gave the A.L. a 1-0 lead in the 5th inning with a bloop single to right field.

In the 6th, with Sano’s Twins’ teammate Ervin Santana (another Dominican) on the mound, Molina hit a game-tying opposite field home run. Yadi, the St. Louis Cardinals’ catcher, who many believe is bound for Cooperstown himself, proceeded to make a joyful run around the bases, sharing a moment at 2nd base with countryman Lindor, the A.L.’s shortstop.

 

With the score tied, the game went to extra frames and, of course, it was a Latino player who delivered the decisive blow. Leading off the 10th inning, the Dominican-born Cano (currently with the Seattle Mariners) stroked a solo home run deep to right field off the Chicago Cubs’ closer Wade Davis.

In the bottom of the 10th, Cleveland Indians’ bullpen ace Andrew Miller, usually used as a set-up man, closed out the game for the American League.

In something that’s hard to explain from a sociological standpoint, Cano was one of ten Dominican-born players (out of 71 total) who graced the All-Star rosters. This small country, which shares a land mass with Haiti and has a reported population of about 10 1/2 million people, had 14% of the All-Stars in this year’s contest.  The United States, with its population of 321 million, had 49 native sons on the rosters for the Mid-Summer Classic. That’s about a 5-to-1 ratio of US-born All-Stars to Dominican-born All-Stars despite an overall 30-fold population disparity.

The ten Domincian players: Cano, Sano, Cruz, Ozuna, Santana, Jose Ramirez, Gary Sanchez, Starlin Castro, Carlo Martinez and Luis Severino.

Besides Sal Perez, three other Venezuelans made the team: Jose Altuve, Avisail Garcia, and Ender Inciarte.

Overall, Latino-born players took up 19 spots on the roster (27%), with three Puerto Ricans (Molina, Lindor and Correa) and one member from the countries of Cuba (Alonso) and Mexico (Roberto Osuna). In addition, two natives of the super-tiny country of Curacao (Kenley Jansen and Jonathan Schoop) and one native of Japan (Yu Darvish) rounded out the All-Star rosters.

At the All-Star break this year, a total of 1,167 players have appeared in at least one game in Major League Baseball. Here is the distribution. As you can see, the Dominicans have a vastly higher percentage of the country’s population populating MLB rosters than any other nation.

WP Table Builder

Currently, in the Hall of Fame, there are 12 Latino-born players, the eight recognized on the field last night plus Aparicio and three Cuban-born members of the Negro Leagues (Martin Dhigo, Jose Mendez, and Cristobal Torriente). In the years to come, there will be many, many more.

From the Dominican Republic alone, Vladimir Guerrero will likely get a Cooperstown plaque next summer and, in the years to follow, Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, David Ortiz and Cano will almost certainly gain induction.

From Venezuela, Miguel Cabrera is a lock, while Felix Hernandez a chance depending on how he does in the next few years. Ivan Rodriguez will become the fourth Puerto Rican to get enshrined in a few weeks and, sometime in the future, Carlos Beltran has a chance to join the group.

And of course, in two years, there will be a ceremony honoring the Panamanian-born Mariano Rivera.

The museum at the Hall of Fame currently has a small section devoted to the “changing face of baseball,” part of which is devoted to Latino baseball. The exhibits are of approximately the same size as the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. In 10 to 15 years, Latino baseball and its great players will need their own wing in Cooperstown.

Thanks for reading.

Chris Bodig