Puerto Rican Contributions to the Great Game of Baseball

A couple of years ago I was attending the Puerto Rican parade on the north side of Chicago, the Humboldt Park area. One of the floats was dedicated to the Roberto Clemente High School baseball team due to a championship they had won. Not having much of an interest on any diversity in baseball, I was intrigued as to who this Roberto Clemente character was and why he was so great that he influenced this team carrying his name to be amazing athletes. Looking up a bit more information on Puerto Rican players, I found that Puerto Rico was home to many baseball players. 

Puerto Rico's early contribution to baseball was Roberto Clemente Walker, who was born on August 13, 1934 in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He began his career by signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers fresh out of high school. He played for the minor league team, the Montreal Royals and then went on to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He then moved on to the Pittsburgh Pirates and was put on the map in 1955. He also participated in the 1971 World Series, he is remembered as a great right-fielder and had an amazing hand in baseball. He became the first Hispanic to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as well as the first Hispanic to reach 3,000 hits with 240 home runs.

Carlos Delgado was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico on June 25, 1972, after being sought after by numerous teams he reached out to Blue Jays. It was not until 1993 that he made his debut, although, he did not play a full season until 1996. Soon after that his potential was shown and he exploded as a baseball player. Over the years he played with Toronto, Marlins and the Mets. His statistics were outstanding and impressive.

Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez is one of the players which I probably have heard about the most. He was born in New York City in 1975 and began his career at a young age, 18. Baseball ran in his blood due to his brother and his father both were involved with baseball. At the age of 4 he moved to the Dominican Republic with his family and later came back to Miami. In 1975 Rodriguez was playing with the Seattle Mariners and later on went to the Texas Rangers and New York Rangers. His careers was on a this line once he was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs but even with that he still went on to help the Yankees in their 2009 World Series.