El Profe: Didn’t Know He Was Latino

Last names don’t always provide a clear indication of a player’s Latino identity. When one sees Kelly, Jay, or Carew on the back of a jersey, many don’t immediately think: a Latino player.

Similarly, the physical appearance of some players don’t always match the stereotypical image people have of what a Latino looks like, even if his last name is Lugo or Verdugo.

Whereas some might say “I didn’t know he was Latino,” players like Joe Kelly, Jon Jay, Rod Carew, and also Seth Lugo and Alex Verdugo provide a reminder that Latinos come in all colors, backgrounds, and from places from throughout the Americas.

Mad Moves

In 2014 cameras caught pitcher Joe Kelly, then with the Cardinals, dancing in the outfield while shagging balls during batting practice in St. Louis.

Several journalists approached Kelly after the video aired to ask him where he learned his dance moves. Salsa lessons that his mother encouraged him to take as a teenager, Kelly replied.

Initial suspicions were Kelly’s response was another example of the well-known prankster’s humor. However, Kelly‘s mother Andrea Valencia is Mexican-American. This translated into Kelly attending a fair number of his cousins’ quinceañaras while growing up in southern California where he got to practice his dance moves as a teen.

What’s In a Name?

Surely Chicago White Sox outfielder Jon Jay has heard it plenty of times. What name could be more American than John Jay—one of the Founding Fathers of the United States? Or, perhaps, I thought you were African American.

Jay takes it all in stride. He is proud of his Cuban roots and of growing up in Miami’s Cuban-American community.

Interviewed two years ago while with the Chicago Cubs, Jay laughed when I asked about his coffee preference: café con leche or Cuban espresso? Declaring his preference for café con leche, he admitted that he drank con leche out of a bottle as a baby. What could be more Latino than that?

Volver, Volver

There is more to being Latino than physical appearances. Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Verdugo knows this all too well.

Upon first glance, some are surprised to learn that the Dodgers rookie is Latino. The son of a Mexican father and a white American mother, Verdugo’s choice of walk-up music clearly announces his Mexican roots.

Dodgers Stadium reverberates with the sounds of Vicente Fernandez’s “Volver Volver” when Verdugo steps to the plate. That song selection brings a roar from the crowd. But it is more than getting a rise from the crowd for Verdugo. The song, Verdugo shared with La Vida Baseball, is homage to his father and remembering his “nana” (grandmother).

Rican Roots

Some players, especially if second or third generation born in the United States, reconnect with their ancestral roots in Latin America at different times within their lives.

Playing on the Puerto Rican national team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic gave New York Mets pitcher Seth Lugo the opportunity to reconnect with his Puerto Rican roots. The Louisiana born and raised pitcher at first worried about the reception he would receive from his teammates on Puerto Rico’s squad. After all, although he carries the Lugo surname inherited from his Puerto Rico-born grandfather José “Ben” Lugo, Seth Lugo had not lived in either a Puerto Rican community on the island or in the States.

The reception could not have been better.

“They welcomed me just like everybody else,” Lugo told La Vida during a spring training interview in 2018. “It was a pleasant surprise. It really made it possible for me to go out there and play comfortably and be part of the team.”

Eating Puerto Rican food while with Team Puerto Rico helped Lugo realize how his roots had been part of who he was all along. The taste of the food reminded him of his grandpa Ben’s cooking. Then it dawned on Lugo that his grandpa had blended Cajun and Puerto Rican flavors in how he prepared and cooked food, and that his grandpa had shared that tradition with Seth’s parents and family.

Nighttime Revelations

Unusual circumstances provided a reminder of Rod Carew’s Latino identity to his wife and family members.

In April 2017 Hall of Famer Rod Carew received a heart transplant. The procedure Carew underwent was extraordinary. The recovery was intense.

Since Carew’s recovery many have become aware of his Heart of 29 Foundation. The organization started by Carew focuses on educating the general public about the need for organ donations.

Fewer perhaps are aware of Carew’s Latino roots. It goes beyond his birth in Panama. Carew grew up speaking Spanish as his first language. He did not begin to learn English until he was a teenager, after his mother moved the family to New York from Panama.

Carew’s Spanish came back unexpectedly during his recuperation when he began sleep talking. At first his nightly ramblings worried his American wife, the two shared during a conversation following the gala during the 2018 Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. But with the realization that Carew was sleep talking in his native Spanish and not gibberish—which could have been an indication of other medical issues—all were relieved.

Together, these players provide a reminder that Latinos are a diverse people. We come in many hues and can embrace our Latino roots at different moments in our individual journeys. In that journey often come the realization that Latino roots were always part of what made us feel at home.

Featured Image: Alex Trautwig / Major League Baseball