Manager Edwin Rodríguez should be congratulated for his job managing a team that reached a 7-0 record in the WBC. He needs to be managing a MLB team.
Sometimes certain historical things occur that we cannot let participants, or future generations forget. That is why we in Latino Sports decided that we need to honor all the baseball players of Team Puerto Rico that played in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
A few months ago in March many Puerto Ricans were glued to their Television sets, or giant screens to see what it felt like: Puerto Rican gladiators taking on the world in the summer game of baseball.
Team Puerto Rico did not disappoint and after the first few wins in this world tournament, Team Puerto Rico realized that they were doing much more than playing a game. They realized that they were becoming the extension, the representatives of an island nation that was going through one of the worst economic crisis in recent memory.
The island was closing schools, hospitals and social services organizations. Thousands of municipal workers being laid off and an average of a few thousand families were leaving the island every month in search of better opportunities in the mainland.
To make matters worse, when representative went to Washington for help to try and declare bankruptcy to restructure the $72 plus billion loan debt, they were referred to the Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme court validated what one small sector in Puerto Rico had been saying since the U.S. invasion in 1898, that Puerto Rico is a “territory of the U.S.” Yes citizens, but not with all the rights of stateside citizens, in other words a colony. Therefore, could not declare bankruptcy like Detroit, or New York could do.
These events had the potential of creating a sense of worthlessness on the island and the basis for political turmoil. However, this despair was magically put aside when Team Puerto Rico was playing their hearts out making everyone on the island and many in the Diaspora take notice.
The island did take notice so much that they wanted to identify so much with Team Puerto Rico that they too wanted to dye their hair, or beards blond like Yadier Molina had started doing within team Puerto Rico. It took so much popularity that the entire island ran out of blond die. Not one criminal fatality occurred during those weeks of the World Baseball Classic. Entire towns were watching every game as one nation. Not as members of a party for Statehood, Independence of remaining a Commonwealth, but as Boricuas rooting for their gladiators that were representing them on a world stage.
Those glorious moments of Puerto Rico’s participation in the World Baseball Classic was historical. It gave the island and every Puerto Rican a relief valve, it gave everyone an example of what the island can achieve if everyone focuses on one target as one nation.
That is why we in Latino Sports will be honoring every player that played on that glorious 2017 World Classic team. They were undefeated till the final game with the USA that hey lost. However, Puerto Rico was no longer playing for a Gold medal, they were playing for the hearts and pride of a nation of 3.4 million on the island and 5.5 million in the Diaspora and that meant more than a gold medal.
Our first three players will be honored this coming Wednesday. They are Bronx born Nuyorican, TJ Rivera and Homegrown Boricua, Rene Rivera of the NY Mets. The third player will be, the Captain of Team Puerto Rico, Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals.
We in Latino Sports will not let history forget what these players did. Their performance went beyond the game of baseball. We will forever be grateful and we believe our humble recognition is a step towards that historical achievement. We will keep our readers posted to the next players to be honored. Also tune in to our website: www,latinosports.com for future details.