Fans celebrate Rivera, Martinez inductions
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – With a large Puerto Rican flag flying a few feet away, Luis and Maritza Balmaceda waved their miniature Panamanian flags while a gentleman nearby wore a large Panamanian flag as a cape.
Panamanian and Puerto Rican flags dotted the crowd at the Clark Sports Center on Sunday, giving a Latin American flavor to the crowd as Mariano Rivera and Edgar Martinez became the first two Latinos inducted together into the National Baseball Hall of Fame after being chosen by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Panamanians and Puerto Ricans made the pilgrimage to this quaint village, lifting their flags proudly for men who figuratively and literally raised their native flags with honor throughout their legendary careers in the Bronx with the Yankees and Seattle with the Mariners, respectively.
“It means even more because this is the first time two Latinos are going in together in the Hall of Fame,” said Alvin Lewis, whose father Allan Lewis Sr. was known as the Panamanian Express while playing for the 1972 and 1973 World Series champion Oakland A’s. “It’s something big for all the Latino people who support baseball. It’s very big for all of us.”
Rivera became the second Panamanian in the Baseball Hall of Fame, following Rod Carew. Martinez, who was born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico, is the fifth Boricua in the Hall.
He follows the late Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Alomar and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez.
“We have five now,” Puerto Rican Miguel Rosario said of the Boricuas in the Hall. “It’s a very huge honor because baseball is incredible. Baseball is life, and in Puerto Rico even more. That’s where we play baseball since the cradle, and that’s why we have gotten all the way here.”
Lewis made the trip from Staten Island, N.Y., with his two brothers. They settled in at the outskirts of the main seating area for the Hall of Famers’ families and other VIPs in the Section 1 seating area in front of the main stage.
The Lewis brothers were back in Cooperstown for the second time. They were also here in 1991 when Carew became the first Panamanian inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“It’s big,” Allan Lewis, Jr., said. “It’s party time in Panama, and in our family more because we’re a baseball family. Our father was a big league ballplayer, Allan Lewis who played for the A’s. …
“We’re also proud that when the first Panamanian was inducted we were here. Of course we’re very excited. I’m proud of our roots. Proud of what our Panamanian fellow accomplished in the major leagues.”
A few feet away from the Lewis brothers, Rosario stood proudly holding a flag pole so that his Puerto Rican flag could be seen from a distance.
The native of Guayama, Puerto Rico, was a popular fixture in the crowd. A diverse group of folks in Mariners and Yankees T-shirts and jerseys stopped by to pose for pictures with him.
“Well, this is a beautiful activity,” Rosario said. “We’re here honoring the best players in baseball. Edgar Martinez is one of them. That’s why we’re here to give him this support to be here with him in this important moment, not only for him but all Puerto Ricans. He’s a man who did great things in baseball.”
Jovet Kercado drove up from New Jersey with his wife Grissell Milian and their daughters D’liah Kercado, 12, and Jahzara Kercado, 7.
Jovet Kercado wore a blue Yankees hat and a T-shirt that commemorated Puerto Rico’s Los Rubios, as the island’s last World Baseball Classic team was known.
Kercado’s WBC shirt had a large “PR” in the front, and pictures of several Puerto Rican stars, including Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina in the center.
“This is an amazing day,” D’Liah said.
It sure is. It’s a historic day for Latinos as Rivera and Martinez joined the game’s immortals at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. They are now part of a group that includes only 329 members.
“We want to represent all the Latinos. It’s a special day, a special day,” Panamanian Luis Balmaceda, 61, said. “As a Panamanian, Mariano represents us. A very humble person. … Obviously we have Venezuela, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Latin force is pretty present in baseball.
“‘Viva beisbol,’ obviously. It’s a sport that is very loved by the Latin community, and we represent. Our brothers and sisters are represented. As a Latin person I’m very proud, very proud.”