Cabo Rojo, PR: From the confines of my home in Cabo Rojo, PR I have been coordinating the final 2020 LatinoMVP Award presentation. These 31st Annual Awards have not been easy to coordinate primarily due to Covid restrictions, but we prevailed.
I arrived last week from San Diego, California where we coordinated the award ceremony for the National League 2020 winner, Fernando Tatis Jr. shortstop for the San Diego Padres. Though we had a few issues as the Covid protocols have not made it easy for the press, the ceremony for Tatis Jr. went well as planned and coordinated by the Padres Media Department. Both Tatis Jr. and the fans appreciated the award. After that adventure between Los Angeles and San Diego I needed some R&R (Rest and Recuperation) from that west coast trip.
Now moving to the American League 2020 Award for José Abreu where it has been a bit more difficult, but nevertheless working with the White Sox Media we were able to get the award given to Abreu this last Sunday in the game Vs. the Detroit Tigers. Abreu is the first Cuban born player to win this important award. He was presented with the award for the second time as he had accidently received the award due to an error in the White Sox mail room. The award was given to the wrong White Sox personnel who upon opening it and seeing the painting gave it to Abreu. That’s not how we, or the White Sox had planned.
However, the White Sox Media arranged for Abreu to receive his award in front of his home crowd this last Sunday perhaps not with the fanfare the award merits, but the important thing was to get the award to José Abreu. Judging from the picture we received from the White Sox, Abreu’s smile holding the award speaks a thousand words. That is the typical reaction from the players when they first set their eyes on the prestigious award, a watercolor painting by nationally recognized artist, James Fiorentino.
We are still in the process of coordinating an interview with Abreu. Fans and our readers like to know details. They always like to know the winner’s thoughts on winning this prestigious award and the caliber of players he was competing with. They also like to know that the winners understand the history of an award celebrating 31 years and their thoughts about being recognized by the Latino community.
Finally, we also like to report on awarding the extra prints of the award, two for the player (who he plans to give them to) and eight for the artist and the community. The artist has a collection of all the LatinoMVP Awards that we hope to display in 2022 for Hispanic Heritage month and the others to display for many other baseball fans to appreciate. So, stay tuned!!!
