Photo credit: @1013TheGame

By: Amaury Pi-González

57.5 million. That is the Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2016; making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority. Hispanics constituted 17.8 percent of the nation’s total population. And of all the professional sports leagues in the United States,when it comes to Hispanic/Latino talent, baseball is Número Uno. The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame, founded in San Francisco, Calif. in 1998 by Mr. Gabriel “Tito” Avila is a non-profit organization dedicated to the history and the contributions of Hispanic Americans in the game of baseball. The growth of the Hispanic baseball player participation has grown expediently.

According to my good friends at SABR (Society American Baseball Research), a great organization serving baseball, as of the 2016 MLB season, 27.4% of all players were Hispanic. Enter any baseball locker room before or after a game, it is not only rap or country music blasting out of speakers, but salsa, merengue and cumbia. Although the emphasis is on the Major Leagues, it should be mentioned that there is an equally large percentage of Hispanics in the minor leagues across the country.

In 1873, Cuban-born Esteban Bellán was the first ever Hispanic in organized baseball in the United States. Later, Luis Manuel Castro from Colombia in the MLB as well as stars like Cuban-born pitcher Adolfo Luque, who pitched for 20 years in the big leagues and in 1923 with the Cincinnati Reds, then earned a 27-8 record and 1.93 ERA. Those are just some of the Hispanic pioneers. Today, J.D. Martínez of the World Champion Boston Red Sox, who almost won the Triple Crown, to newcomers like Ramón Laureano of the Oakland Athletics, are showing their talents. Alex Cora, who was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, became the first rookie manager from Latin America to win a World Series and only the second in history. Venezuelan Ozzie Guillén (not as a rookie manager) won the 2005 World Series for the Chicago White Sox, sweeping the Houston Astros.

The great #21 Roberto Clemente, from Puerto Rico, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was one of the first Hispanic super-stars. The MLB gives The Roberto Clemente Award to players for their humanitarian involvement in their respective communities. This award is for all players, regardless of ethnic background, and each team nominates a player. In 2018, the Roberto Clemente Award in the Bay Area went to A’s second baseman Jed Lowrie and Giants catcher Buster Posey.

Currently, all 30 Clubs have academies in the Dominican Republic, many with state-of-the-art facilities. The academies, which often include dormitories for players and coaches, also feature playing fields, weight rooms, training facilities, clubhouses, classrooms and recreational areas for participating players. While many of the clubs have erected new academies in the last several years, almost all of the clubs have operated academy programs dating back as early as the 1980’s. While it is thought by many that baseball was first introduced to the D.R. by U.S. Army soldiers stationed there, it was actually its Caribbean neighbor, Cuba, who brought the sport to the shores of the country.

These are the leading baseball countries in Latin America: Cuba, D.R., México, P.R. and Venezuela. They all have professional leagues, except socialist Cuba, whose government eradicated all professional sports in 1961. Cuba’s baseball leagues are directed and controlled by the government under their Institute of Sports.

The two biggest baseball tournaments to date in Latin America with the participation of all these counties are the World Baseball Classic, which takes place once every four years (next one in 2021), and also includes the participation of the U.S., Japan and South Korea. The Caribbean World Series, which is played each year in February, includes only the countries in the region and is the oldest of all baseball tournaments in Latin America with the first ever played in La Habana (Havana) Cuba in 1949.

Hispanics/Latinos are not only monolithic groups, they can be of any race, ancestry, ethnicity and/or political affiliation and the sport that mostly represents Hispanics in the U.S. is baseball because baseball is intertwined with the history of the U.S.. While the first Hispanics to play organized and professional baseball in the U.S. over 100 years ago where fair skinned players were dominant, but after 1947 as Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, dark skinned Hispanic players like Cuban-born Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso also had the opportunity to come and play in this country. In the case of Miñoso, a rookie with the Cleveland Indians in 1949.

Baseball teams today recognize the importance of the Hispanic market in the U.S., not only as a huge consumer block of people, but also historically as a big part of the National Pastime in our American continent.

¡Hasta la Vista!