Justice Sotomayor Throws 1st Pitch at Yankee Stadium

Roberto Clemente Walker (#21) - A Video Tribute

Growing up in Puerto Rico we got to learn a lot about his character, it was obvious that not only was he one of the greatest players, but a great human being as well.
Bernie Williams, NY Yankee All-Star

There was ... Clemente playing a kind of baseball that none of us had ever seen before -- throwing and running and hitting at something close to the level of absolute perfection, playing to win but also playing the game almost as if it were a form of punishment for everyone else on the field.
Roger Angell, The Summer Game

Roberto had the pride of a racehorse, the fury of a hurricane, the grace of ballet dancer, the arm of a canon, but most of all the noble character of a great man. InterlochenFan

The best player EVER!! stevengargoyle

You can only hope to be as good a person as Roberto Clemente. carlinrulez666

Thank you for the beautiful tribute to one of the greatest sports legends in history. The music you chose with the video is very well done. Roberto Clemente will always be my my favorite athletic hero as I had the pleasure of seeing him play on many occasions. mfclassic

I never got to see him play, but he's still my hero. luis872

Our 5th graders read "We'll Never Forget You, Roberto Clemente" every year. I showed this tribute to my students on the projector in our computer lab today. You could hear a pin drop. Thank you! moondog2323

Links:
Baseball Hall of Fame: Roberto Clemente
Latino Sports Legends: The Great Roberto Clemente
Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente - Wikipedia
Clemente quietly grew in stature

Jose "Chegüí" Torres: R.I.P.

Legendary Puerto Rican boxer Jose Torres died at his home in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He was 72 years old. El Diario gives the man known to many as "Chegüí" a lovely tribute. Here's an excerpt:

A tribute to a giant

Tomorrow, Jose "Chegüí" Torres will be laid to rest in his hometown of Ponce, Puerto Rico. But his triumphs in and beyond the boxing ring will serve as inspiration for generations to come.

Torres was a hero—in every sense of the word. He was a boxing legend, an accomplished journalist and author, an Army veteran, and gave his all for the causes and community he loved.

Chegüí, as he was affectionately known among his family, friends and the Puerto Rican community, rose to fame as an Olympic star. A middleweight boxer, he won a silver medal for the United States in 1956. His record setting did not stop there.

Links:
José Torres - Wikipedia
Jose Torres - BoxRec
Jose "Chegui" Torres 1936-2009

W in Beijing: USA's Lead Frat Boy Represents

The USA's lead Frat Boy, George W.Bush, appears to be doing what frat boys do on summer breaks: party hardy. So what that he's president of the United States and leader of the "free" world.










W staggers............................................................while Laura looks away













A dopey and red-faced W.........................................fondles Phelps' metal










Daughter Barbara has had.........................................enough of W's antics










The women are not amused................................but Frat Boy wannabe Mitt is














A red-nosed W tries acting presidential................but loses to the frat boy












W spanks Kerri Walsh.....................................and reveals a scraped elbow

Spain's "Slanty-Eye" Insult

The Spanish men's Olympics basketball team strike a "slanty eye" pose just prior to the Beijing games. The photographed insult was included in Spain's leading sports daily Marca on behalf of a courier company.

BTW: Spain beat China in the men's competition in overtime today; while China edged Spain in the women's tournament Saturday. The Spanish men face the USA on Friday. I'm guessing that the Spanish will not show up in black-face.

Olympics: Spain's eye-catching faux pas

Beijing Olympics 2008 Blog

The opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics was the most impressive event of its kind I've ever witnessed. It was breath-taking in its technical design, orchestration and beauty. Bravo!

Check the calendar of events, track the medal count and look for updates on the China Olympics 2008 blog.

Alan Garcia Beats The Odds

Alan Garcia, 22 years old, is the jockey who rode Da'Tara to an upset victory over Triple Crown contender Big Brown in the Long Island Belmont Stakes this past Saturday.

Da'Tara was a 38-1 long shot.

Native of Lima, Peru, Garcia currently resides in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.

Related:
Big Brown

Big Brown

Big Brown poised for Triple Crown bid
Big Brown has Date with Destiny on Long Island

Yankees Draft 102 Year Old Emilio "Millito "Navarro

Emilio "Millito" Navarro (born September 26, 1905 in Patillas) was the first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro Leagues.

At 102, Navarro is also the oldest living professional baseball player.

"I started playing professional baseball when I was 17 years old. I was the first Puerto Rican to play in the Negro Leagues and I am the last surviving player from the Negro American League. In 1929, I hit.337. Also, I was the original shortstop and lead-off batter for the Eastern Cuban Stars team."

Navarro was inducted into the "Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame" in 2004, and his story will be part of an American documentary called "Beisbol".

On June 6, 2008, Major League Baseball held a ceremonial draft to honor Negro League players. Navarro was drafted by the New York Yankees.

Related:
Winfield’s brainchild thrills Negro Leaguers
Yankees Youth Movement Dealt Another Blow
NAVARRO AN AGELESS AMBASSADOR
Emilio "Millito" Navarro
Major League Baseball to hold ceremonial Negro Leagues draft

Lopez's post-World Cup goal: NCAA title for Portland

Lopez's post-World Cup goal: NCAA title for Portland (by Andy Gardiner, USA TODAY)

Stephanie Lopez's whirlwind year hasn't ended yet, but it has returned her to a place where she can catch her breath and begin to sort out the experiences of the last 12 months.

Lopez is back at her familiar spot on defense for the seventh-ranked University of Portland women's soccer team, transforming a very good club into one with a shot at the national championship.

She returns after competing on this year's U.S. World Cup team that finished third in China in September. She was the national team's youngest member and its first player of Hispanic origin.

More

Cockfighting as a 'cultural right"?

Fight flap riles Puerto Ricans (by David McFadden, AP - 7.16.07)

Under pressure to join U.S. states in banning cockfights, the island territory holds fast to traditional blood sport

ISLA VERDE, Puerto Rico — With cockfighting about to lose its last bastion in the United States, animal-rights activists are training their sights on Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory where the blood sport is both beloved tradition and big business.

Cockfighting is illegal in 49 states, and the governor of Louisiana—the pastime's last U.S. refuge—signed a law Thursday that will make it a crime to fight birds beginning in August 2008. New Mexico banned the sport June 15.

But Puerto Rico shows no signs of following suit. Cockfighting is so entrenched that the territory's legislature recently approved a bill establishing it as a "cultural right" of islanders.

More

Also see Louisiana to be last state to ban cockfighting.

Cockfighting's "Days Are Numbered" in U.S.

Pelé Returns to NY to Promote Reading (and Fútbol)

Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pelé, or simply Pelé, the King, rang the opening opening bell at Nasdaq in New York's Times Square on Wednesday July 11, 2007.

Pelé was in town to kick-off Fútbol Mundial's children's LEA literacy program, a program to encourage children to read first and then play.

“There were 200,000 people there to see me score my 1,000th goal, but I said that they should give as much attention to school, education, the kids,” Pelé said. “They didn’t understand my message then and now look at Brazil — you see violence, corruption. In Brazil since then, two generations did not get my message and did not get an education. So my message to the youth of America is that there is a time to play and a time to read.”

While playing for the Brazilian national team in World Cup competitions in the 1960's, Pelé electrified the soccer world with his speed, acrobatics and sheer magic. Pelé came out of retirement to jump start U.S. professional soccer. In 1977 he led the New York Cosmos to the U.S. championship.

Pelé, now 66, is coach of the Brazilian team which just made it into the finals of the Copa América, the soccer tournament of the Americas being held in Venezuela. Brazil faces off against favorite Argentina on Saturday, July 14.

The following is a short video produced Fútbol Mundial for the special occasion.

Also see Pelé Talks Brazil, U.S. and David ‘Beckman’ (by Jack Bell, NYTimes/GOAL Blog 7-11.07)

Pelé (by Henry Kissenger, TIME100: The Most Important People of the Century - 6.14.99)

Latinos Dominate AL's Victorious Starting Line-up (because they have Batos in their blood)

The story that gets the widest play regarding the American League victory over the National League will be Ichiro Suzuki's improbable first ever inside the stadium homerun.

It was pure Ichiro.

However, another story which may be more important to America and America's favorite pastime is that 8 of the 9 starting players for the victorious American League are players of color, 6 of the 9 are Latinos--and 6 of 9 are immigrants.

Here are the AL Latino starters and their countries of origin:

David Ortiz - Dominican Republic
Alex Rodriguez - USA (via DR parentage)
Vladimir Guerrero - Dominican Republic
Magglio Ordonez - Venezuela
Ivan Rodriguez - Puerto Rico
Placido Polanco - Dominican Republic

Now Gary Sheffield believes that Latino players have overtaken U.S. born African American players on major league rosters because they're easily controlled by management. Of course, that's silly stuff. Major league owners are driven to win so it's imperative that they go out and find the best players regardless of race or ethnicity.

Latino players are dominating because currently there are simply more quality Latino players available to major league baseball.

But that still doesn't answer the question of why there are so many quality Latino players to begin with?

Of course, there are all sorts of guesses--and they're all just guesses, including that desperately poor Latino players have no other escape from poverty but baseball, or that Latino boys don't have access to other sports. But deep poverty exists in many lands including many Latin nations not known for producing stellar baseball talent. Additionally, the idea that only baseball is an option is untrue. Many Latin nations encourage soccer, basketball, diving, etc., and top players in those sports can become rich international stars.

It's really only a handful of Caribbean basin nations that produce the bulk of the star foreign players in the MLB. Of this year's crop of Latino MLB All Stars, all but a few U.S. born Latino players hail from just 3 countries: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela. (And there would no doubt be a number of Cuban players if more of Cuba's talented players could sign with MLB teams.)

Why those countries?

Could it be that those countries produce so many great baseball players because baseball is literally in the DNA of their cultures?

That is, we now know that baseball was not invented by Abner Doubleday near Cooperstown, NY. It's roots are older and deeper than anything that was played in the U.S. of the mid 1800s.

There's also the belief that baseball's origins are in the English cricket which hails from the maids game of stoolball. My only question is why is baseball, therefore, not more like cricket?

Intriguingly, there's undeniable evidence that an early form of baseball was played in the Caribbean by the Taíno. Incredibly, the game was called Batos (or bateball) in which a ball was hit with a bate or bat on a field called a batey.

Could it be that the idea for bateball arrived in the U.S. via the merchant traffic between the Greater Antilles and the harbors of North America?

Also See:

The Origin of Ball Games

Cuban Baseball:Before 'El Duque' Was A Yanqui...

The History of Baseball in Cuba

Albert Pujols: U.S. Citizen

Albert Pujols has National League MVP award, a Gold Glove and a World Series ring. He's also husband, father and philanthropist.

On Wednesday, February 7, 2007 he added U.S. Citizen to his impressive list of achievements.

Joining Pujols for the ceremony at the Tomas F. Eagleton US Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri was his wife, Deidre, and son, AJ.

Pujols, 27, is a native of the Dominican Republic but has lived in the U.S. since he was 16. He attended high school and junior college in the Kansas City area before being drafted by the Cardinals. He currently makes his home outside of St. Louis.

Congratulations!

El Bombardero de La Reina, Fernando Gonzalez, Bursts into Australian Open Finals

El Bombardero de La Reina ("The La Reina Bomber"), Fernando González of La Reina, Chile, shocked the tennis world on Friday by crushing Tommy Haas 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Gonzalez advanced to the finals where he'll match-up against #1 seed, Switzerland's Roger Federer.

"[Federer]is the No. 1 player in the world by far. ... I lost many times with him," Gonzalez said. "But now I'm playing much better than the last time we played. And it's only one match. I'm going to give everything that I have to try to win my first Slam."

Needless to say, American Taíno will be rooting for our Latin American brother--El Bombardero.