00:00
When I step on the field, uh I try to be the best that I could be
00:05
So one I won't let down my family, my friends in my Latin community
00:11
my dad's generation started from zero.
00:21
They had to find their way to make it here.
00:26
Uh Some came to this country not knowing how to lay blocks be
00:32
mechanics, painters, uh construction.
00:36
I mean, whatever they, they all they knew in Cuba was uh getting
00:40
a machete and cutting down sugar cane.
00:42
Um They, they probably had some mechanics but, you know, when
00:45
they came here they didn't have the, uh the schooling that
00:50
they have here for do what, what they do here as a mechanic or
00:54
a contractor or a, you know, a licensed plumber.
00:59
So I guess when they, that generation got here they had to find
01:03
different jobs uh to see what they're, they were good at and
01:09
then when they found something they were good at, they stuck
01:12
to it and they taught their kids.
01:15
Yeah, I'm gonna, you gonna play baseball but just in case you
01:17
didn't make it, hey, you got a company here that you can play
01:20
blocks or you got a company here where you can be a mechanic
01:23
you know, if you don't want to go to school.
01:26
And that was a big thing.
01:27
They would, that generation, uh, they found tough jobs, hard
01:33
working jobs and I think that was a, something that they, they
01:39
did on purpose, the older generation because that made you
01:44
go to school and study to become an architect or a doctor or
01:50
work somewhere where it's indoors with ac and that didn't
01:54
have to bust your butt like they did on an outside world.
01:58
And I, you know, I've thought about that, like, why is he picking
02:02
this and not doing something indoors?
02:04
You know, and that's probably, I think what, that generate
02:07
a lot of that generation did got worked in hard jobs.
02:12
So that way when they had their kids or like, hey, if you don't
02:15
want to study, this is your life and that kind of forced us to
02:23
like, ok, I better, I better study because if I don't study
02:26
I don't get good grades.
02:27
I don't do something with my life, I'm gonna have to fall back
02:32
I mean, it gave us what we have today because he did that.
02:37
I'm 49 gonna be 50 next year and for 45 years that I can remember
02:44
So it, uh, that bought land blocks, bought me three cars that
02:50
I, that I had growing up because I've worked with him.
02:52
The house that, that we, that I grew up in, you know, land blocks
02:56
did uh gave us a lot.
02:59
But I think he said, hey, this is hard work.
03:02
And if you don't wanna do this, get your butt to study and do
03:07
something better for yourself.
03:09
My mom worked in factories.
03:11
Uh So what to talk about the soil machines.
03:13
Yeah, she sold bags, sold.
03:16
Uh I mean that, that's the factory because when that was a job
03:20
for the women, the women that came from Cuba, the main thing
03:24
that they did in Cuba was sew, they were, they know how to get
03:27
a machine and, and they could sew anything.
03:30
So what were the jobs when they got here was, was sewing shoes
03:36
And my mom, she said, you know, till a couple of years ago, that's
03:41
what she, she was a sewer.
03:43
She, you know, all the factories you needed people to, to sew
03:47
everything, sold shoes, so bags, so, uh, curtains, so, uh
03:51
jeans and, uh, shirts and most of the women that came from
03:55
Cuba, that's what they did.
03:57
That was their, their main jobs went in making nothing but
04:01
uh, they kept the company afloat with 100 sew machines in
04:05
a, in a sweaty factory working from eight o'clock in the morning
04:09
to four or five o'clock in the afternoon and then coming home
04:12
and taking care of the kids, you know, so a lot of, uh Latin Cuban
04:18
women, you know, that they have just as much part of, of us growing
04:23
up, uh as our fathers because they, they're the, they're the
04:28
They're the ones that kept our, uh our family together because
04:33
uh as you know, Latin men, us, Latin men were machos and, you
04:37
know, uh now we're kind of relaxed but back then it was like
04:41
hey, I'll go out and make the money and you go home, clean the
04:44
house, cook and all that.
04:45
And plus if you could work, you do that and still come home and
04:47
do what you gotta do.
04:49
So they're the real heroes of, of our, of our house.
04:53
My father growing up in Cuba, he always wanted to be a baseball
04:56
Um when he came to this country, he didn't have the, the tools
05:02
or the ability to continue to play and be a major league ball
05:07
So when his little boy was born, he says, hey, you're gonna
05:10
be a major league ball player.
05:12
And since I can remember, he put a bat in my hands and was pitching
05:17
to me and growing up, uh he would all do the same thing.
05:21
He would come from uh land blocks all day in the hot sun, come
05:25
home at five o'clock and say, hey, let's go and he, he would
05:29
pitch uh hit me ground balls, hit me fly balls.
05:33
Uh He wanted, you know, he wouldn't let me play football.
05:37
He wouldn't let me play baseball.
05:37
He goes, no, you're gonna be a, a baseball player.
05:40
And I thought it was pretty good in, in both sports.
05:42
But he goes, no, I want you to be a major league baseball player
05:45
So we, you know, we practiced pretty hard to, till daylight
05:50
till night time from daylight to nighttime.
05:53
We practiced even in the backyard.
05:55
Uh, we had a pretty big backyard.
05:56
He would hit me ground balls, turn on the light in the back porch
05:59
and hit me some ground balls at.
06:02
I would say he was a Bobby Cox of amateur ball because he would
06:05
get thrown out almost every game protecting us.
06:09
Uh Which, that's why Bobby Cox holds the record for being thrown
06:13
out of so many games because he protected his players.
06:15
And I remember one time we both got thrown out of the game.
06:18
Uh, he had, I had an argument, he had an argument with the umpire
06:21
threw him out and then I had an argument and we're both sitting
06:23
in the stands together, both.
06:25
Uh, I think this is the first time their father's son ever got
06:27
thrown out of a, a little league game or a optimist game.
06:31
But he, uh, he coached us, he coached, coached me through the
06:36
Uh, he took us to Ecuador twice.
06:39
Um He's taking teams to Puerto Rico, uh, playing fast paced
06:43
Uh, he's got a Nicaragua also.
06:46
So he's, he's he like, he like coaching and he, every team that
06:49
I was on, he, uh, he wanted to coach except for college and,
06:53
uh, in high school, but every other optimist team, travel
06:56
team, he would, he would coach.
06:58
But once I decided that my days were done as a, as a player, uh
07:04
I still work with them in construction and, uh, it was hard
07:09
and that's, you know, and that started, uh, I'm part in, uh
07:13
a little league in high school and so slow, slow pitch softball
07:20
And he would let me go early so I could practice.
07:24
And I'm one of, one of his friends that umpire when I played
07:27
he kind of said, hey, you know, you're not doing anything
07:31
You just recently divorced, why don't you go, go to umpire
07:34
school and I didn't want to do it.
07:35
And my dad said, you know, it's not a bad idea.
07:38
Go ahead and go and I go, well, that, you know what, it's 2 $2000
07:43
or whatever it was at that time.
07:45
He goes, I'll give, I'll give it to you, but you gotta, you gotta
07:50
push yourself, you gotta do what you gotta do.
07:51
If I'm gonna give you this money to help you, you gotta, you
07:57
I said, ok, so he gave me that first push and I'm like, I didn't
08:02
want to let him down the hardest thing for a, a son of my generation
08:07
growing up to do to a father's let him down.
08:12
Uh I've seen the, the communication, the interaction that
08:17
he had with his father.
08:19
Um I remember when his dad came from Cuba, all four, my dad and
08:24
his three brothers were in my backyard smoking and they were
08:28
grown men, grown men.
08:31
And the, my grandfather went to the bathroom and they, oh,
08:34
let's light up a cigarette when my grandfather.
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