Bronx, NY: Yesterday we were able to deliver the LatinoMVP Award to the American League MVP, NY Yankees Gleyber Torres and we also shipped out the Washington Nationals NL pitcher of the year award to Aníbal Sánchez.
James Fiorentino’s water color rendition of Gleybar Torres.
As we have reported in previous articles, this years 30th annual LatinoMVP awards, the most prestigious and oldest awards given to Latino baseball players has not been an easy task. We in Latino Sports were looking forward to making these 30th annual awards a major event. We were proud to celebrate thirty years of painstaking and many times uphill work making these awards possible to Latino players. Players who many times were not recognized falling a bit short on statistics giving them national recognition. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic crushed those ideas. However, we were proud to work with MLB (special thanks to Pat Courtney and John Blundell) and the Media Directors of all the winning players teams to get the awards delivered to the players in this shortened and very difficult baseball season.
LatinoMVP award an illustration by renown illustrator, John Penissi.
Our motivation has been fed by the excitement we have witnessed throughout these thirty years when many of these awardees and their families were so proud to have been recognized for their efforts. Comments from players like Johan Santana, stating that he won the Cy Young, but that the LatinoMVP award meant more to him because it came from his Latino community. Comments from Albert Pujols showing ESPN many of his awards in a televised “a day with Albert Pujols” and pointing to the several LatinoMVP awards he had and stating that those were the most prized awards he had received. NY Yankees, Mariano Rivera thanked Latino Sports publicly for taking the time to organize these awards to recognize Latino players.
In Spanish we have a saying, “No hay mal que por bien no venga.” Basic translation, “something positive can always come from something negative.” We believe that though we could not provide the hoopla for these 30th annual awards, we have gained more in being able to work closely with MLB and the various Media Directors specifically on getting these awards to the players, that no doubt will appreciate them perhaps more in the quiet comforts of their locker rooms with no press, or visitors. Something they will take home and share with their families.
Six more awards to go!
