What we’re thankful for in 2018

In Washington D.C. and Atlanta, the young ones made their presence felt on the baseball world while a young Puerto Rican manager led Boston back to the top.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Houston, Boston and Minnesota a few Boricuan superstars reminded their rebuilding island that they were not alone nor forgotten.

On this Thanksgiving holiday, let’s reflect back on all the off-the-field efforts and performances that give La Vida Baseball reason to be grateful. When considering the excellence on the diamond and the altruism off the field, the 2018 season was truly one of the most emblematic of the example that the Great One Roberto Clemente set.

When outlining the many reasons to be thankful about the 2018 year in baseball, two men stand out – Yadier Molina and Álex Cora.

Molina, the superstar catcher of the St. Louis Cardinals, earned his ninth Gold Glove award after overcoming the gruesome injury he suffered in the pelvic area in May when a ball was fouled back at him.

The Cardinals never quite recovered from Molina’s stint on the disabled list, but he was exceptional nonetheless behind the plate. He was even more impressive in the community while rallying St. Louisans to help the Puerto Rican victims of Hurricane Maria.

Embodying the spirit of his baseball hero, Molina used his money and his fame to bring much needed relief supplies to Puerto Rico. His altruistic endeavors helped garner him the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award.

Molina was leading the Puerto Rican Under-23 national team and thus unavailable to be present when his wife and children received the Roberto Clemente Award in his honor before Game 2 of the World Series at Fenway Park on the same day Cora led the Red Sox to a victory over the Dodgers in the World Series.

Cora, the Boston Red Sox manager, gave Puerto Rico and Latin America plenty of reason to celebrate this season while becoming the first Puerto Rican and second Latino to manage a team to a World Series title.

Cora had a magical rookie managerial season, beginning his tenure in Boston with a pilgrimage back to his native island with relief supplies soon after he was hired. He capped his storybook journey in November by taking the Commissioner’s Trophy back to his hometown of Caguas to celebrate the Red Sox’s title.

So much to love

If you love baseball as much as we do at La Vida, the Puerto Rican superstars are just a few of the Latin American reasons to be thankful about this year in America’s pastime.

Three years after Puerto Rican shortstops Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor finished first and second, respectively, in the American League Rookie of the Year contest, Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves and Juan Soto of the Nationals mounted an equally impressive race for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

Acuña, 20, edged out Soto, 19, for the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award. These promising young players should challenge each other for All-Star berths for many years to come.

If you love superb shortstop play, and every baseball fan does, there’s reason to be thankful for the era of the Puerto Rican shortstop. A good argument can be made that the Dominican Republic is the land of the best Latin American shortstops although Hall of Fame Luis Aparicio, former Rookie of the Year Ozzie Guillén and former All-Star Omar Vizquel might disagree.

Whatever the case, we’re blessed to see Correa, the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year, compete with Lindor, a three-time All-Star, Gold Glove winner and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, for the starting AL All-Star shortstop position.

Correa had an injury plagued season while posting only a 1.7 WAR, which paled in comparison to Lindor’s 7.9 WAR, but he, Lindor and the Cubs’ Javy Báez, an NL MVP candidate this year, give Puerto Rico three brilliant young shortstops.

More importantly, we are grateful that Correa, Báez and Lindor all helped raise funds this year for the victims of Hurricane Maria.

Slugger Khris Davis, the son of a Mexican mother and African American father, helped lead the attack as he and the Oakland A’s made a surprising run at the AL West title before eventually finishing second to the Astros.

Davis helped the A’s reach the AL wild-card game with a power display that helped garner him the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award.

Davis edged out J.D. Martinez, who surely gladly settled for helping the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in the same year former Montreal Expos and Los Angeles Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero was inducted into the national Baseball Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown Celebrations

We’re thankful that the Baseball Hall of Fame allowed Guerrero to give his speech in Spanish while longtime Angels broadcaster and former major leaguer José Mota made history by becoming the first person to translate a Hall of Fame speech live during the induction ceremony.

It was great to see Guerrero join Pedro Martínez and Juan Marichal as the third Dominican among the immortals in Cooperstown, N.Y. We’re thankful to see that former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has a strong chance to join Rod Carew next year as the second Panamanian in the Hall.

We’re also thankful that the Mariners’ Edgar Martínez appears to have strong odds to join the late Clemente and Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez, who was inducted in the 2016 Hall of Fame class, in Coopertown.

As veteran members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America start to receive their Hall of Fame ballots with Rivera and Martínez during Thanksgiving week, we’re reminded that La Vida Baseball has plenty to be thankful for while we look at the youngsters such as Acuña and Soto, the veterans such as Molina and the retired greats who bring us so much joy as we follow baseball, or shall we say, beisbol.

Featured Image: Red Sox Instagram