Los Angeles Angels pitcher Parker Bridwell who started and would be preceded by a record 12 more pitchers works against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 4, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

On That’s Amaury’s Podcast:

1 Former Chicago White Sox Manager Al Lopez born to Cuban parents came to Florida and Tampa Bay was the birth place of this 19 year baseball veteran player turned manager. Lopez managed Cleveland from 1951-1956 and moved onto manage the famous 1959 Chicago White Sox known as the Go Go Sox a team that led the American League in stolen bases that season. Lopez passed away four days after the White Sox won the 2005 World Series at 97 years old.

2. 13 pitchers count em, 13 that’s what the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim used on Monday to beat the Oakland A’s 11-9 in the opening game of their series at the Oakland Coliseum it was a wild and willy game that saw the Angels use the most pitchers in a game in their franchise history and the A’s didn’t do so shyly using a total of seven pitchers in said same contest. The A’s Matt Olson clobbered two home runs but for not as the A’s fell two runs shy and lost their seventh straight game.

3 Hurricane Irma is gaining speed and it reportedly baring down on the Caribbeans. Packing winds of 185 miles per hour Irma rated a category 5  is expected to make landfall of the Caribbeans and then will make it’s way to Florida. This one packs more power than Hurricane Katrina which was a category 4. After what Florida has learned about Hurricane Harvey and it’s devastation of Texas the state of Florida and the Caribbeans both are hunkering down and calling for a state of emergency. The Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays like the Houston Astros might have to find a neutral site to play their games until the emergency has been called off. The Rays Tropicana Field was used as a neutral site for the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers right after Hurricane Harvey.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the only announcer in MLB that works for two different big league teams doing the play by play for Amaury that’s the A’s on radio and Angels on TV both Spanish language and also does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

On August 21, 2017 when the talk was the Solar Eclipse, I was arriving at the Long Beach Airport on my way later to the Rangers vs Angels game at Angel Stadium, Anaheim. The morning after, on August 22nd, I learned about the passing of my mentor, friend and what I have considered him, part of my family. Rafaed”Felo”Ramirez who has been broadcasting since 1945 and was the Spanish Voice for all Miami Marlins games, since that team began in the National League in 1993.

Felo was 94 years of age. Early this season, an accident in Philadelphia as he was traveling with the Marlins, sent him to a hospital in nearby Delaware, and he never called another game. He slipped and fell as he was coming out of the team bus.

My mother Olga used to tell me all the time, that while in Cuba I would get a broom, turn it upside-down in the patio of our home in Havana and do an imitation of Felo. I must have been 14 or 15 then. Yes, I always listened to the games on Cuban radio them of the old Cuban Winter Professional League, and Felo was the guy. I never met Felo while I live in Cuba in the first 17 years of my life (I left for Miami in 1961 to live with my aunt, I was 17).

Knowing Felo was a real cool thing, like the kids would say today, because even though his age was 94, he was young and sounded young on the air. In 1998 I got a call from producer Armando Talavera from New York City, who asked me to work with Felo during the National League Championship Series for the Caracol International Network, to the USA and all of Latinamerica, over 200 radio stations in that network. I remember before we went on the air for the first game I asked him if it was OK for me to mention that I used to listen to him in Cuba when I was a little boy, he said: “desde luego” trans- “of course”. We had a great time working together, his memory and knowledge of the game was amazing. Felo called also many boxing matches, very important ones during his career, but baseball is what he was known for and is enshrined in every conceivable Baseball Hall of Fame in the world.

As a person that was born in Cuba, for me (like for many Cubans around the world) especially those that follow baseball, and for Cubans baseball is part of our lives, he was the Voice of Baseball.

I thank God that I was able to meet this man, work with him and share time with him.

There will never be another Felo.

Descansa en Paz Felo.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez lived to have his dream come true when he got to work with Felo Ramirez in the broadcast booth at the 1998 NLCS for Caracol International Network, Amaury is the Spanish voice at the Oakland A’s and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

On the cover photo: Felo Ramirez Miami Marlins Hall of Fame Spanish broadcaster who passed away in Miami at age 94 and has been broadcasting baseball since 1945

On That’s Amaury’s Podcast:

1 Miami Marlins Spanish radio broadcaster and Hall of Famer Felo Ramirez passed away on Monday at the age of 94. Felo was a mentor to a young Amaury Pi Gonzalez who imagined broadcasting games in his bedroom in Miami while listening to Felo’s broadcasts. Felo broke into broadcasting calling baseball and boxing in 1945. Felo joined the Miami Marlins since the inception of the team in 1993 calling their games on radio in Spanish. He called 30 All Star games and World Series during his illustrious career

2 Ian Kinsler of the Detroit Tigers picks up a fine that is substantial at $10,000 for arguing balls and strikes with umpire Angel Hernandez.  Hernandez with the World Umpires Association said that they were tired of the continued abuse by MLB players and Kinsler in particular of not only arguing ball and strikes but being ridiculed by the players. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said the fine was too far excessive.

3 The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are in a bidding war for the Marlins Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton who most likely will end up with one of those franchises by the end of the month

4 San Francico Giants manager Bruce Bochy stood by his catcher Buster Posey saying that Phillies pitcher Hector Neris deliberately threw at Posey in the back on Sunday adding that Neris was an idiot

5 The LA Angels Mike Trout and the Angels might have struggled in the last few weeks of the season but nonetheless the club is in post season play and it gives Trout an opportunity to turn it up a notch to see how far LA can go in post season

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio talent, the Los Angeles Angels TV Spanish talent and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Miami Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton looks on as he hits a solo home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in Miami. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald via AP)

On Amaury’s Podcast for today:

1 Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins was almost traded four different times before the trade deadline but now with waivers this month. The Marlins are looking for a taker for Stanton and it could be a deal that could happen soon.

2 The Washington Nationals Bryce Harper’s injury was found not to be as bad as first thought. Harper hyperextended his leg although his absence will impact the team they have enough to make it to post season with Dusty Baker at the helm

3 The Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis is relieved to be back on the mound for the Rocks after a bout with testicular cancer which doctors say is under control

4 The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees dogfight for first place in the AL East could turn out to be interesting in the stretch run. The Sox have a 4.5 game lead over the Yanks

5 The Houston Astros have struggled but still hold a good lead in the AL West over second place Los Angeles by 11.5 games. In spite of some of the players questioning why management didn’t trade for pitching during the July trade deadline the Astros should waltz to the finish line to clinch the division

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio talent for the A’s, the Spanish TV talent for the Angels, and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera (24) reacts to fans during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES–Venezuela just had a national election, but it was basically an exercise to solidify the current government of Nicolas Maduro. His party changed the Constituion of Venezuela to his favor. He was affiliated with the late Hugo Chavez. Hugo Chavez is the guy that was a huge fan of Cuba’s communist dictator, the late Fidel Castro. So we all know where this is going. You do not need a Political Science degree from Yale to know that Venezuela has turn to the “left”but not just a little bit…they are going down the path of Cuba.

In other words, expect Venezuela to become another Cuba. The government will ruin everything, and the average citizen will have little say on what happens Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. Lago Maracaibo (Maracaibo Lake) is one of the richest oil producing areas in the world. But those riches are no good for the average citizen of Venezuela, if the country continues to be mismanaged.

One of the most famous Venezuelan players is Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, whom some day after he retires will be enshrined at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Cabrera also was begging the Venezuelan government not to hurt his family and saying he was told by pro-government people he would be killed if he returned to the country. Cabrera has posted in social media his feelings against the Nicolas Maduro government, as well as Francisco Cervelli, Carlos Gonzalez and many other Venezuelan players here in the major leagues.A recent study showed that nearly 75 percent of the population lost an average of 19 pounds, for shortages of food.

They are killing Flaming and Anteaters and God knows what else, to stave off hunger. Venezuelans suffer shortages of the most basic goods, from food to medicine, amid triple-digit inflation and a nearly 80 percent currency collapse in the last year. This is the result of Socialism,Communism.and maybe our colleges and universities here in thre US, should talk about that and tell our young people what does that system of government means for the people who basically lose all their rights to a centralized government. I think that will be much more important that the “Gender Studies”taught today in our school.

I hope and pray for the people of Venezuela. By the way (since somebody asked me recently) all the Venezuelan players are here in the United States legally as residents, who play in the major leagues and used to return to Venezuela in the winter to play ball, some others just to spend the off-season with their families. Others have become US Naturalized citizens.So as far as immigration they could always offer “exile”to the Venezuelan players here in the United States if they wish not to return to their homeland.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Angels, the Spanish radio voice for the A’s, and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com