2024-02-26 14:09:07
A roster of 26 Latin American players, already retired, chosen in the history of the Major Leagues, would be a winner in any category.
Even a team with Martín Dihigo 26 times would win very often. Dihigo was stellar in all nine positions and not at all deficient as a manager, since he led the Leones del Caracas to the Caribbean Series, in Puerto Rico, in 1953.
Of course, it’s not about that, since Martín couldn’t play in the Major Leagues for two reasons: One, he was black. Two, in 1947 he had already turned 42 years old.
Today a roster appears here, a Major League team, made up of pure natives of Latin America. A roster far from the ridiculous nonsense of some clueless ignoramuses, who included Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson and Vernon (Lefty) Gómez in a similar story.
Yeah! They published that these three extraordinary big leaguers are Latin Americans. You need to be misinformed, abusive, gross and shameless!
But let’s go to the most sensible roster:
Manager, Preston Gomez; bank coach, Regino Otero; third coach, Oswaldo Virgil Sr.; first coach, Felipe Rojas Alou; pitching coach, Adolfo Luque; hitting coach, Rod Carew. Other coaches: Alfonso (Chico) Carrasquel, Baldomero (Melo) Almada.
Right Pitchers, Bartolo Columbus, Dennis Martinez, Juan Marichal, Peter Martinez, Felix Hernandez.
Left-handed pitchers, Fernando Valenzuela, Johan Santana, Mike Cuellar, Relievers, Mariano Rivera, Willie Hernández, José Mesa, Luis Aponte, Luis Arrollo.
Catcher, Iván Rodríguez; first baseman, Albert Pujols; second baseman, Roberto Alomar; third baseman, Alex Rodríguez; short stop, Luis Aparicio; left fielder, Orestes Miñoso; center fielder, Bernie Williams; right fielder, Roberto Clemente.
Bench: Tony Rock, Orlando Cepeda, Manny Trillo, Adrian Beltre, Juan Gonzalez, Vladimir Guerrero’s father.
After creating any roster of all time, the problem always arises based on this question:
And where do I place these others?
One reasons:
Maybe they deserve to be there, but the roster must be 26, if you want to follow the Major League Rules.
Of course they don’t fit on this roster, because it would be a comedian, Jackson, Williams, or Lefty Gómez. Nor, out of respect for good baseball, designated hitters.
But I do think it is unfair to leave out figures like Tany Pérez, David Concepción, Carlos Delgado, Javier López, Yadier Molina, Róbinson Canó, Manuel Sanguillén, Omar Vizquel, Miguel Cabrera, Miguel Tejada, Vinicio Castilla, Juan González, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Luis Tiant.
And now, when the commissioner’s office has incorporated the numbers of the Negro Leagues into those of the Major Leagues, the situation is much more dangerous.
For example, according to that, I should have taken into account for my roster Martín Dihigo, Satchel Peige, Manuel (Cocaína) García, Javier Pérez, Vidal López, Tetelo Vargas and about a hundred others.
Now, putting together a roster for a baseball team is difficult in any category.
Two years ago, at the end of training, when the number of players had to be reduced from 40 to 26, a manager told me:
“Here I have my roster ready… I’m just missing places for three pitchers who should be on it.”
But the Rules say that the maximum number of positions to be filled is 26. Everyone has to submit to the Rules, even me, with this all-time roster. But not with current players, ah! because it would be unfair to compare retired people with active people.
We can guess what the careers of, for example, Luis Arráez and Ronald Acuña will be, but we will never be sure how successful or how unsuccessful they will be.
On another occasion, one Sunday morning, in one of the numerous fields where children play in the East of Caracas, a man with a frustrated, sad appearance, grumbled at me: “These League regulations are not fair. Look, they don’t let me have more than 20 boys on my (pre-kindergarten) team. But today we lost by chance and the children were left without playing, because only eight arrived for play ball time.
“The others have sick parents or they took them to the beach or they fell asleep, which I already know because it has happened to me before.
“If they let me have 25 on the roster, maybe they would always come, at least nine.”
True, but if all 25 ever come to the game, how do you manage to control the 16 left on the bench eager to play.
Conclusion: The roster for the managers is a calamity greater than that of the opposing teams, and for journalists who like getting into trouble like me, it is the information with which the most protests are received.
An all-time roster is a great reason to cheer up the assholes.
I will have to wait for the appropriate insults because Andrés Galarraga does not appear anywhere and because Alfonso Carrasquel, who is in the game, must be left out.
It will dawn and we will read!
Thanks to the life that has given me so much, even a reader like you.
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#roster #Latin #Americans #MLB