Claudio: So I guess you heard about Manny?
Dad: Seguro que si (of course I did)…
His voice trailed off...
My father, who is Dominican, just like Manny, stopped putting stock in his fellow countrymen in Major League Baseball a long time ago.
First, there was the constant speculation surrounding Sammy Sosa; then there were the denials from Tejada and the subsequent positive test for steroids; after that came Alex Rodriguez. But even though we know “Manny for being Manny,” we never expected this. No one ever expected him to be smart enough to even know how to take a pill.
“Its sad when a kid you used to see on the stoop of 177th and St. Nicholas Avenue, after coming home from practice at George Washington HS, ends up with a story like this,” he said.
It’s a common fact in baseball circles that the country that produces more baseball players than any foreign nation is also responsible for close to 60 percent of the players who have tested positive for steroids since 2005. Almost 25 percent of players who have tested positive for PEDs have been Dominican, coming in second to American-born players at 46 percent.
But despite all his antics, Manny kept a special place in the heart of every Dominican for one thing: his honesty.
We knew you could depend on him when you needed him at the plate for a major at-bat. We knew he had no filter. We felt whatever came out of Manny’s mouth was the truth—that was then, though.
The rainy day in New York City dampened moods all over, but nowhere more than in the mostly Dominican Washington Heights and Inwood sections of Manhattan.
When I got off the 1 train at Dyckman Street, it was the topic of conversation on every milk-crate in front of every bodega. You would hear your “Who cares about steroids?” in broken-English from a few old-timers, but you could see it on everyone’s face; no one could defend this one.
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