Los Angeles, CA: Today, Monday before tomorrow’s All-Star game the media had the opportunity to speak to every one of the starting players who will be participating in tomorrow’s mid-summer classic. It was a festival atmosphere for the press to have the opportunity to speak to the players up close. Each player was seated in a booth with a sign with his name on the curtain behind the player. Thus, all media personnel had the opportunity to look for the players that they were interested in interviewing.
It has been a long time that I have had the opportunity to speak to some of the players that I was interested in interviewing. For example, Albert Pujols who holds the record of eight LatinoMVP awards knows Latino Sports and me since we have participated in eight award ceremonies throughout the last fifteen years. As a result, we have developed a close relationship. As expected, his booth had the most reporters. The fact that this is Albert’s final season and that he has been a media and fan friendly player makes him a very well loved and popular player
I finally had my chance to move through the throng of reporters to the front of the table. When I got there Albert recognized me and gave me a fist bump. I told him that no player has yet broken his record of eight LatinoMVP awards. He smiled and said, “that was because of you” (pointing to me). I responded, “no I did not hit the ball, you did,” we both laughed. He smiled and stated how proud he was winning those awards. I asked him what his plans are after retiring? He stated that he wants to travel and spend time with his family.
I wished him the best and told him that in all my time covering sports his quote at one of our LatinoMVP awards ceremonies “It’s great to hit a homerun, but it feels better to give a kid an autograph” was still the best quote that I have heard from any player.
Fans and all of baseball will miss Albert Pujols. He is truly a giant among players as was shown at the Home Run Derby when he advanced to the second round and every baseball player from both leagues came out, encircled him to celebrate and congratulate him. He also received a standing ovation from the fans. There is no doubt that when the time comes, Pujol’s will make it to the HOF in the first round and fans will have the opportunity to see him once again at the induction ceremony and future children and fans will be able to see his plaque for the history of time.
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