In 1990, Latino Sports Ventures, Inc. was formed to fill the void, which existed in the Latino community in regards to: promotions and marketing sports, sports personalities and products. This became evident to Mr. Julio Pabón in January of 1990 while on a vacation trip to Puerto Rico where he learned of the incident which involved Mr. Ruben Sierra of the Texas Rangers who according to many baseball enthusiasts, including some national sports publications and writers, should have been selected the 1989 American League Most Valuable Player.

Mr. Pabón recognized that Latino players, no matter how good they played, were being shortchanged in the media.  He was personally affected when he noticed that his 9-year-old son would not mention a Latino player when he would play baseball with his father. "He would mention Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield and others, but never a Latino," stated Mr. Pabón.

Mr. Pabón took it upon himself to organize a tribute for Mr. Sierra in Yankee Stadium understanding that the Latino community cannot afford to wait for others to identify its role models.

As a result, Latino Sports Ventures (LSV) was born. LSV is a multi-faceted sports promotion and marketing company headquartered in the South Bronx committed to bridging the gap between Latino sports personalities, goods and services and the Latino community. The Latino community, particularly its youth are in dire need of positive role models and icons that can generate a sense of pride and high esteem. Unfortunately, Latino youth are exposed to the overwhelming consumer generated marketing of companies, which primarily targets the African American and Anglo communities. This powerful marketing sublimely sends out a message of lack of achievement and creates a serious void in the Latino communities.

Latino Sports Ventures Inc. (LSV) is committed to filling this void with goods and services while simultaneously sending out a clear message of love, pride and goodwill to every Latino youth. In 1993 Mr. Pabón focused his 100% attention on building LSV and focused on the design and production of the LSV logo on apparel, the Latino Sports CLUBHOUSE apparel and specialty shop which includes a rare sports book section and memorabilia exhibit, "La Hora Deportiva", the nations only Spanish/English radio sports talk show on WVOX 1460 AM and Latino Sports Promotions. In 1995 LSV website, www.latinosports.com was launched to help spread the positive LSV message throughout the cyberspace.

The Latino Sports CLUBHOUSE & Internet Hub is now located at 424 Grand Concourse and has become a haven for sports and Clemente collectors and a source and place to go to get that rare book, jersey, video, poster, or picture. The Latinosports.com site has become a popular information site and offered people outside of the Bronx the opportunity to shop on line and join a growing world of Latino sports.

Today Latino Sports is also recognized as a leader in sports promotion and marketing in the Latino community. Latino Sports has consulted various athletes and organizations. Carlos Baerga (MLB), Sandy & Roberto Alomar (MLB), Alex Rodriguez (MLB), Felipe Lopez (NBA), Macho Camacho & Tito Trinidad (Boxing), Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Latino Sports Writers & Broadcasters Association (LSWBA) and the Retire 21 movement to name a few.

Our newest unit, Latino Sports Productions has produced its first production, The Legacy of # 21 a documentary on the legendary baseball player, Roberto Clemente.

Latino Sports has been featured in the New York Times, Daily News, NY Post, Sporting News, El Diario, The San Juan Star, WABC – Eyewitness News, Good Day New York, Univision, NY 1 News, News 12 The Bronx and Bronx Net Cable, American Latino TV, TEMPO Magazine and in numerous newspapers throughout the country.

Latino Sports Ventures, Inc

• Latino Sports Clubhouse & Internet Hub: A sports memorabilia and specialty shop in the South Bronx offering rare & unique products to the Latino and non-Latino community.

• Latinosports.com: A popular multi platform sports news site generated to the millions of English dominant, culturally sensitive Latino and to the demanding non-Latino fan that wants to know more about Latino’s in sports and who wants to purchase rare and unique sports products related to the Latino community

• Latino Sports Promotions: Initiators and organizers of the following popular events:

• The prestigious LatinoMVP award honoring the best Latino players in baseball since 1989.

• The Celebrity Basketball Game & Family Day. An annual event dedicated to the issue of Missing Children and the critical health issue of Obesity in Children. The event takes place at Orchard Beach and has become a pilgrimage for families and people of all ages every year since 1995.

• 21 Days of Clemente. From December 10 to December 31st LSV sponsors a series of events, exhibitions and contest involving schools and organizations dedicated to the Puerto Rican baseball superstar, Roberto Clemente who was killed in an airplane crash on December 31st, 1972.

• Back To School Sports Day: Since 2006 a give back to the community event where staff and volunteers dedicate the Sunday before school starts in September to play with children from homeless shelters and the South Bronx community and distribute free school supplies to all children who attend.

• Providing marketing strategies to companies and athletes.

• Latino Sports Productions: A video productions unit that has produced several video productions for our own site and for independent producers and organizations. LSP has also produced its first film production, The Legacy of #21 a documentary on the life and times of Puerto Rican superstar, Roberto Clemente as told by others.  The film has become the major promotions vehicle for the national Retire 21 Campaign.

Latino Sports has also developed special training seminars for developing baseball players. Our trainings have focused on the following topics;   

            Press Relations for Latino players in the Dominican Republic baseball camps, the minor league’s and rookies during Spring Training. This training focuses on the history and commonalities between the working press and the Latino athlete.  The title of this training is: The Press Is Not Your Friend, The Press Is Not Your Enemy, The press is Simply The Press. The New York Yankees have been one of our clients offering this training to their players. Mariano Rivera sat in on one training seminar and stated, “I wish they had this for me when I was a rookie coming into the system. They covered it all.”

            Our second training is for players in the Dominican Baseball Camps who require two areas of concentration. This training: Acclimating To The World Of Baseball focuses on the two important areas:

1. Helping young Latino players acclimate to the changes in their lives upon moving up to the minor leagues in the states.

2. The delicate issue of the over 95% that will not make it and how they will deal with their lives when they are released. This special training focuses on taking what they have learned in their short baseball career and how to apply those skills to surviving after baseball. This training was first commissioned by NY Mets General Manager, Omar Minaya for his players in the Dominican Republic Baseball Academy.  We were congratulated by all the coaching staff that stated “the training seminar had positive lasting effects for weeks to come.”

 

Our Mission is to become a leading Latino enterprise in sports by providing quality products and services that will also instill Love Pride & Goodwill and become a catalyst for economic empowerment in the Latino community.

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