AP File photo: Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Paul Blackburn, right, gets a hug from Franklin Barreto in the dugout after Blackburn was pulled from a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners during the eighth inning, Thursday, July 6, 2017, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
By Amaury Pi Gonzalez
OAKLAND–Matt Chapman, Matt Olsen, Ryon Healy, Chad Pinder, Jaycob Brugman, Sean Manaea, Bruce Maxwell and others are young exciting players that the Athletics have today. But where are the young Latino players? Many wonder how come we do not see young Hispanic players, and yes, I do not want to forget Franklin Barreto, he is 21 years old and playing in the minors. He could be brought in the September call-ups, Barreto is a terrific young talent as well as pitcher Frankie Montas, like Barreto was with the A’s early in the season.To be fair, the team that plays across the bay neither is rich in Latino talent these days. Well, okay, they brought Pablo Sandoval back, who said “I left my heart in San Francisco”, but he forgot to say the most important and true; that he left his happy and healthy bank account in Boston. The Athletics will finish last again in their division, look at the team in first place with the best record in the American League, the Houston Astros have build a team that is loaded with great Latino players, Altuve, Correa, Gurriel, VGonzalez. The Astros have been successful in their Latin American scouting.
But the Athletics history with Latino players is there. Today between 30 to 35% of all players in the majors are Latino. When the Oakland Athletics had their dynasty in the 1970’s, winning the 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Series, the percentage was not that high, yet guys like Dagoberto Blanco(Campy) Campaneris, Matty Alou, Jesus Alou, Angel Mangual, Diego Segui,Manny Trillo, Vid Davalillo, Gonzalo Marquez and even the great superstar Reginaldo Martinez Jackson, aka Reggie Jackson, of Puerto Rican heritage was wearing the green and gold and hitting home runs all over the place. In the most recent winning era of the 1980’s, Jose Canseco was MVP in 1988, and other guys in those winning teams, like Stan Javier, Luis Polonia, Orlando Mercado, Felix Jose. In 2002 Miguel Tejada, one of Oakland best shortstops was the Most Valuable Player in the American League. I knew and talked to many of these guys and they contributed greatly to the Oakland Athletics success and why they won four World Series at Oakland.
It is more than Latino players for the Athletics these days. One thing is to discover a player, then develop that player and then when he becomes a star he goes Adios. The longevity of A’s player in Oakland is not very long,Yoenis Cespedes was here 2 seasons and a couple of months, Josh Donaldson was here 4 years, then he became the MVP in another country. One of the last players to have played here for a long period of time, catcher Steven Vogt was here for five years! Five years is a long stay for a player with the Athletics. When the A’s open their new baseball park, some of these young players I have mentioned here could be part of the A’s, and let’s hope so, because after all you can built the best baseball facility in the world, but the park cannot pitch,hit or field. A nice and new park is great, but the greatest Aphrodisiac for a fan is Winning. The A’s drew 2 million when they had The Bash Brothers in the 1980’s. Two million then, was a big deal, specially here in the Bay Area.
Lazaro Armenteros “Lazarito” from Cuba is 17 years old. The A’s signed him. He is a super talented outfielder whom showed some of his talents this Spring Training in the Cactus League. He could be “the guy”when the A’s inaugurate their new ballpark a few years from now. Lazarito played in Cuba because he loved the game, now he has to adjust to the rigid and discipline required for a young player to make it all the way to the top. The best case is another super talented Cuban exile to the major leagues. Dodger right fielder Yasiel Puig. First time I spoke with Puig, It was at Dodgers Stadium during the Freeway Series against the Angels. He was a rookie, and was the sensation of baseball. Yet, a couple of years later he had problems adjusting to many things,(American culture one of them)and was sent down to the minors. Since his return he has been a solid player, hitting eight in the lineup in the best team in the game with over 20 home-runs, and is playing like the Yasiel Puig of his first days in the majors.
Hopefully the Athletics will also have some Latino superstars in the future. But what do I know, I am just and old Cuban that has been watching baseball since I was a little boy and my father took me to the old Cuban Professional Winter League, which by the way was loaded with not only great Cuban players like Orestes(Minnie)Minoso, but also with lots of American-born players, one of my favorites was Brooks Robinson whom I saw play with the Elefantes del Cienfuegos(Cienfuegos Elephants). During the years I found out that in the 40’s,50’s and 60’s American major league baseball players went to Cuba for many reasons, the most important is that there was no Major League Players Union, and they had to supplement their salaries in the off-season and Cuba at that time paid the best among all Latinamerican baseball countries.
Amaury Pi-Gonzalez was inducted into the Cuban Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame (BARHOF) in 2010. Amaury is the play by play talent for the Oakland Athletics Spanish Radio and the play by play talent for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Fox Sports West-Los Angeles.
