It was a really good column.
Here’s a brief excerpt:
You know why Hall of Famer Tony Perez had apple pie a la mode every morning for breakfast for the first month of his professional career? He couldn’t recognize anything else on the menu and he didn’t want to sound dumb asking questions. You know why former A’s pitcher Ariel Prieto stuck his $1.3 million signing bonus in his jeans and forgot about it? Because he didn’t realize its worth or know about checking accounts.
And when you think about it, not only do most (not all) international Latin players arrive in the United States with limited English comprehension and seriously lacking in American cultural capital, many of them return to their home countries in the off-season to play there — which means they don’t get much of a chance to become fully fluent and functional in American language, customs and frames of reference.
If I remember correctly, when Miguel Tejada signed with the A’s, he was given $3,000 in cash, and he broke out crying, partly because it was more money than he or his family had ever seen.
|