Hispanic players overcome language barrier, culture shock to realize dreams
By Kaitlin Merkel
For Murphy News Service
Baseball is commonly known as America’s Pastime, but a Pew Research Study recently revealed that 26.9 percent of Major League Baseball rosters in 2012 were from the “other” America – Latin America – a trend that is only expected to rise.
That percentage demonstrates an overrepresentation of Latinos in baseball, as Pew reported Latinos comprised 17 percent of the United States population the same year.
Many Hall of Famers and “household name” baseball stars of the past and present are products of Latin America, including Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Roberto Clemente, and Juan Marichal.
The Minnesota Twins, meanwhile, continue to become more invested in Latin American scouting and player development.
The Twins’ 40-man roster includes 10 players from Latin American countries, five of whom are on the active big league roster: Eduardo Escobar, from Maracay, Venezuela; Yosmil Pinto, from Valencia, Venezuela; Danny Santana, from Monte Plata, Dominican Republic; Samuel Deduno, from La Romana, Dominican Republic; and Eduardo Nunez, from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The Twins’ Opening Day lineup also included two other Latin players. Opening Day shortstop Pedro Florimon, from La Romana, Dominican Republic, has since been demoted to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, due to his hitting woes. Opening Day leftfielder Oswaldo Arcia, from Anaco, Venezuela, suffered a wrist injury early in the season, and is also currently playing in Rochester, though many expect he will again be activated to the big league roster soon.
The transition for these players from their home country to the United States has meant plenty of sacrifices.
Each player took a different journey to Minnesota, but all agreed that learning a foreign language was the most difficult part of their transition. Teams are starting to require English classes for their minor league players, but it was different for the current Major League players upon their arrival. Many didn’t know any English, making it difficult to hold conversations, order food or ask directions.
Former Twins outfielder and current Milwaukee Brewer Carlos Gomez said recently in an interview with Fox Sports-Wisconsin that he ate combo meal No. 7 at Wendy’s for 45 straight days after his arrival in the United States because the only English he knew was numbers.
Shortstop Florimon said learning the language was the largest obstacle for him.
“I just listened when guys were talking … I listened to a word, asked them what it was, then I put it in my mind. I never had a book for that.”
Florimon now speaks better English and said it’s a continuing process, “Because I come here, 2005, and then I don’t know any (English), that’s why, now, knowing a little bit more, helps.”
Utility infielder Escobar said, “They (Americans) spoke differently when I came here the first time. I didn’t speak English so I needed practice.” He credited the “very good cities” and the “good people here” for helping him to overcome the language barrier.
Deduno, a pitcher, agreed, though he admitted he still has trouble.
“I’m still (learning), I still have to use my phone,” he said, “But when I came here in 2004, I started speaking a little bit.” Deduno also had a teacher accompany him and took English classes.
All of the hard work put into learning a second language by the Latino players does not go unnoticed by their English-speaking teammates, however.
“You find ways to work it out,” third baseman Trevor Plouffe said of the language barrier’s influence on team chemistry. “I mean, to their credit, a lot of Latin guys will come over and learn English because it’s a necessity … So they pick it up. Every guy here, they speak pretty good English.”
Plouffe added that, oftentimes, to relieve some of the pressure on the Latino players, their American teammates pick up a little Spanish in the minor leagues too.
“Especially playing middle infield with guys, you have to be able to communicate with them,” he said, “You pick up, mostly it’s baseball verbage, but you know how to have a simple conversation.”
As for how the language barrier influences the relationship between the players and the manager, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire called it a “work in progress” where the key is identifying when the players need help.
“We want them to make sure they understand us and sometimes they shake their head a lot and they don’t really know exactly what we’re saying,” Gardenhire said, “One thing we want them to do is if (they) don’t understand, just say it and we’ll get some help.”
Gardenhire said he speaks a little bit of Spanish, but that bullpen coach Bobby Cuellar, a Texan of Mexican-American descent, acts as an impromptu translator when needed.
The one thing Gardenhire wanted to stress, however, is that the language barrier is “not a deterrent, it’s something we all just have to work on and get better.”
As a whole, MLB teams are working to address the language and cultural barriers facing Latin ballplayers.
All 30 MLB teams have built baseball academies in the Dominican Republic, the Latin American country that sends the most players to the majors and minor league affiliates.
Clubs hope to not only hone in on more rigorous baseball instruction at the academies, but also teach players common English. The players live at the academies upon being signed to a Major League team. On top of twice-a-day practices, the budding ballplayers are expected to attend a nightly English class, Jo Ann Buysee, a sports sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, said.
Buysee has traveled and toured the academies owned by the Minnesota Twins and the New York Mets in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, often called ‘Baseball City’ because it holds 14 Major League academies.
She calls the Dominican baseball academy system an “arms race,” as teams that spend the most money to operate the state-of-the-art facilities usually are able to sign the top-rated prospects.
The most recent investment in baseball academies was by the Seattle Mariners. The American League West division team opened a new 24-acre academy in February that houses about 80 players, according to a press release. The Mariner’s academy is located in ‘Baseball City,’ Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.
Due to constant upgrading facilities and competition, it was a surprise to many when the Twins, whose academy is still relatively modest, signed the highly rated Dominican third baseman Miguel Sanó at age 16 in 2009 for $3.15 million.
Buysee, who has interviewed Sanó before, said he described the family atmosphere of the Twins’ ball club as attractive rather than the more advanced facilities of other teams. Now, Sanó is often regarded as a key face of the future for the Twins, demonstrating that investment in Latin American scouting works.
Latino prospects are often signed around age 16, the minimum age per MLB rules. Overall, it’s a complex system that begins long before the Latino player’s arrival in the United States and their first season in a rookie league.
Dave Zirin is sports editor for The Nation magazine and writes a blog dedicated to how sports intersect with politics and culture. He emphasized the importance of Latin baseball, especially in the Dominican Republic, in Alan Klein’s book “Dominican Baseball: New Pride, Old Prejudice,” saying, “If you don’t understand the Dominican baseball pipeline in all its dimensions, then you can’t say you understand baseball in the 21stCentury.”
Thousands of miles from home, all of the Latino players on the Twins agreed the thing they miss most are their families.
Florimon added a few of his favorite things onto that list as well: “The area, the beach. I love the beach. Fish, I like to eat fish (in the DR).”
On top of the language barrier and culture shock, playing in Minnesota means living in a completely opposite climate for the players, whose home countries have a tropical climate in comparison to the frozen tundra of Minnesota.
The players had mixed reactions regarding this change.
“Nah, it’s okay. I played in Chicago too, and it was good too. I love it here,” Escobar said of the Minnesota weather.
“I don’t like the cold weather,” Deduno said, “In the Dominican, it’s never like this weather. I don’t like the cold.”
“No, no, no, no, no. I like Minnesota, but not when it’s cold,” Florimon said animatedly, “I have to endure it.”
Most of the Latino players interviewed expressed gratitude for the opportunity to play baseball for a living, as it is often one of the only ways out of poverty in the underdeveloped Latin American countries.
“For me, it was just ‘play baseball,’” Florimon said of growing up in the Dominican Republic.
Escobar added his gratitude that he gets to play a game for a living to provide for his family, “It’s fun, baseball. I like it, I love it.”
While their journeys may be full of obstacles and sacrifices, the players are now living out their boyhood dreams in las grandes ligas, the Major Leagues.
It’s fitting, then, that one of the last things they see while leaving the clubhouse before games at Target Field are the words of legendary Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett: “Live for today, tomorrow ain’t promised to anyone.”