Latino Legends in Sports News

Two killed at Rivera's home in Panama

October 11, 2004 -- New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was headed back to Panama on Sunday after two of his wife's relatives were electrocuted while cleaning the pool at his home.

Victor Dario Avila, a cousin of Rivera's wife, and his 14-year-old son were killed Saturday, Rivera's cousin, Irma Rivera, told The Associated Press.

The teenager, also named Victor Dario Avila, apparently touched an electrical wire while cleaning the pool in Puerto Caimito, 40 miles east of Panama City. His father died trying to save him, Irma Rivera said.

"Everyone here is in pain," said Jose Marciaga, a neighbor of Rivera in the pitching star's hometown of Puerto Caimito, about 40 miles east of Panama City.

It was not immediately clear when Rivera would return to New York, where the Yankees open the American League championship series Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox.

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Handful of Latino players use urine to condition their hands

May 7, 2004 -- This sounds nasty, but several Latino players use an unconventional approach to preventing the build-up of calluses and toughen up their hands.

Forget about batting gloves, pickle brine, rubbing alcohol or other elements, several guys are using their own urine.

Moises Alou, Jorge Posada, Vladimir Guerrero to name a few.

"I do it during the winter and spring training to keep my hands hard," All-Star catcher Jorge Posada said of the unorthodox skin conditioning program. "You don't want to shake my hand during spring training before practice."

While it sounds unorthodox, older players apparently used urine to keep their hands tough and people who do field work in warmer climates use it to keep their hands from developing calluses.

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Spiderman 2 promos coming to a ballpark near you

Update: A day after announcing a new MLB promotion with Spiderman 2 to have advertisements on bases next month, Major League Baseball reversed course and eliminated that part of its marketing deal for "Spider-Man 2."

May 5, 2004 -- In an unprecedented move by Major League Baseball, you will soon see Spiderman 2 ads all over 15 ballparks this summer. MLB inked a marketing partnership with Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios to support the highly anticipated national release of Spider-Man® 2.

The focus of the marketing partnership will be a weekend of Spider-Man® 2 events coordinated with Major League Baseball Properties and the 15 MLB Clubs hosting home games June 11-13.

During Spider-Man® 2 Weekend, which has been scheduled during a segment of the 2004 Major League Baseball Interleague Play schedule, ballparks will feature in-park and on-field Spider-Man® signage and each Club will feature special Spider-Man® promotional events, including giveaways with the world-renowned web crawler. In addition, highlights from Spider-Man® 2 will run on stadium video boards to promote the motion picture's June 30 release. Major League Baseball Properties and the 15 participating Clubs will promote Spider-Man® 2 Weekend locally in each market and nationally.

Major League Baseball Clubs hosting Spider-Man® 2 Weekend are the Anaheim Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, and Toronto Blue Jays.

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Omar Vizquel gets his 2000th career hit

April 22, 2004 -- Indians' shortstop, Omar Vizquel, got his 2,000th career hit and helped his team come back from a three-run deficit in the eighth inning to get a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Vizquel, a native of Caracas, Venezuela became the 230th player to reach 2,000 hits when he singled off Jason Grimsley (1-1) in the eighth inning of Thursday's afternoon game.

"When I started out, there is no way I would have dreamed of 2,000," the 37-year-old Vizquel said. "I was happy to get one hit."

Vizquel is a three-time All-Star, has won 9 Gold Glove Awards and has played 15 years in the Major Leagues.

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Sosa becomes Cubs all-time home run leader

April 18, 2004 --Chicago Cubs slugger SAMMY SOSA homered in the first inning today at Wrigley Field and is now the franchise's all-time home run leader.

The homer, off Paul Wilson, was Sosa's 513th with the Cubs. Sosa hit another solo shot off Wilson in the third inning.

Sosa, who also played with the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox, now has 543 career homers - 10th on baseball's list.

After his first homer, Sosa came out of the dugout for a curtain call and pounded his fist on his heart to acknowledge the fans.

Sosa entered the game tied with Ernie Banks.

Next up is Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who hit 548.

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MLB to test all players for steroids

Nov 14, 2003 -- Starting next year, steroid users in baseball will be subject to suspensions or fines. Results of 2003's anonymous tests were announced Thursday and they confirmed what many in baseball suspected: Some players were taking more than vitamins.

Starting in the spring, Major League Baseball will identify players who test positive. A first offense will result in mandatory treatment. Subsequent offenses could mean fines and suspensions, starting at $10,000 and 15 days. Random testing, which will include the newly scrutinized THG, will continue every season until results show an aggregate rate of less than 2½ percent for two consecutive seasons.

Rumors regarding steroids had run high recently as bulked-up sluggers set all sorts of home run records. Stars such as Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa denied taking the drugs. But former MVPs Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti admitted they had done it before their careers ended.

"Hopefully, this will, over time, allow us to completely eradicate the use of performance enhancement substances in baseball," commissioner Bud Selig said.

Of 1,438 anonymous tests during the 2003 season, between 5 and 7 percent were positive.

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Unimpressive tryout for Jose Canseco

March 2, 2004 -- In Vero Beach, Fla., Jose Canseco struggled through an open tryout with the Los Angeles Dodgers and looked nothing like the slugger who intimidated opposing pitchers in the late 1980s and ’90s. "It could have gone better -- technique’s a little off," Canseco said. "I wish I had a little more time to get ready. I’m not going to hold my breath on it. It’s basically out of my hands -- just being realistic."

Matt Slater, the Dodgers’ director of professional scouting, said Canseco was told several days ago there was a 99 percent chance the team wouldn’t sign him.

"This is probably going to be my last attempt -- see you in the movies," Canseco told reporters afterward as he signed autographs.

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Hiram Bithorn's #24 retired in Puerto Rico

Sept 10, 2003 -- During Tuesday's pregame introductions of the Cubs-Expos game, Hiram Bithorn's No. 24 was put on the right-field wall of Hiram Bithorn's stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico alongside the numbers of Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Orlando Cepeda.

Hiram Bithorn was the first Puerto Rican-born player to reach the major leagues. He pitched four seasons (1942-1943 and 1946) in the big leagues for the Cubs and the White Sox.

He went 34-31 with a 3.16 ERA in 105 major league games.

De La Hoya sells Big Bear camp

November 28, 2005 -- Oscar De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy Promotions is lead promoter for Hopkins-Taylor II, has sold the Big Bear training camp where Hopkins is training. A sign with the words, "in escrow" was stuck in front of the sprawling property that includes a log house and detached gym. De La Hoya had the camp built nearly 10 years ago.

De La Hoya is in Puerto Rico with his wife, Millie, who is close to delivering their son. But De La Hoya's right-hand man, Richard Schaefer, said that since De La Hoya is nearing retirement, there is no reason to keep it.

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Peruvian boxer dies four days after fight

March 14, 2004 -- A boxer from Peru died four days after collapsing following a title fight, a spokesman for the fight's promoter said.

Luis Villalta, 35, lost consciousness in his dressing room minutes after losing the 12-round bout to Ricky Quiles on Saturday night.

Although Villalta was not knocked down in the fight, he did absorb heavy shots in the final two rounds.

Villalta's wife and father were at the fighter's bedside when he died, said Warrior's Boxing spokesman Peter Kahn. They arrived from Peru on emergency visas Wednesday morning.

Villalta moved to the United States on a professional athlete visa three years ago to improve his stock as a fighter, living near his manager Anthony Toresco's home in Hillsborough, N.J.

Villalta fought in the lightweight division and won a regional title last July. He was 29-6-1.

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Pay-Per-View buys for De La Hoya-Mosley generate "Mucho Dinero."

September 22, 2003 -- Win or lose, Oscar De La Hoya still sells.

His controversial fight with Shane Mosley was the second-biggest non-heavyweight pay-per-view attraction, HBO said.

The network said the fight was bought by 975,000 homes, generating $50.2 million in income.

That was slightly more than the 935,000 buys from De La Hoya's fight with Fernando Vargas a year ago, but fewer than the 1.4 million sold in 1999 for De La Hoya's fight with Felix Trinidad.

De La Hoya's June 17, 2000, fight with Sugar Shane Mosley in Los Angeles sold about 588,000 pay per views buys.

The biggest pay-per-view fight ever was Mike Tyson's second fight with Evander Holyfield, the infamous "Bite Fight." That was bought by 1.99 million homes.

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De La Hoya is granted Mexican citizenship
December 11, 2002 -- WBC / WBA Jr. Middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya became a Mexican citizen.

The Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles granted De La Hoya the nationality of his parents and grandparents. The 29-year-old De La Hoya also is a U.S. citizen.

"I've always felt that my blood is Mexican," he said. "That runs through my veins - having my family born in Mexico and myself here in Los Angeles."

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"Bad Blood" A box office success on pay-per-view.
September 20, 2002 -- HBO reported Thursday that it received 900,000 pay-per-view buys and $45.6 million in pay-per-view revenue from Saturday's world title fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas.

It was the second biggest non-heavyweight fight on the pay-per-view charts, trailing the 1999 title fight between De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad, which generated $65 million. A total of 550,000 buys for the bout were from cable systems, while 350,000 purchased the fight from satellite providers.

De La Hoya's June 17, 2000, fight with Sugar Shane Mosley in Los Angeles sold about 588,000 pay per views buys.

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Official autopsy confirms Pedro Alcazar died of brain swelling.

July 12, 2002 - The official results of the autopsy on boxer Pedro Alcazar who fought on the Barrera-Morales undercard on June 22nd showed that the cause of death was brain swelling.

Chairwoman of the Nevada Athletic Commission Medical Advisory board, Dr. Margaret Goodman, announced the official results yesterday in a public report.

There were rumors that Alcazar should not have been fighting because he was in a recent car accident and suffered head injuries. Dr. Goodman cleared those rumors with the following statement, "There was nothing to suggest any other problems, caused his death," Goodman said. "In other words, there was no evidence of prior trauma."

"The other thing of interest was the fighter was in a competitive fight that in truth was actually quite uneventful. He actually took very few blows to the head."

Alcazar, 26 years old of Panama, died from significant swelling of the brain, 36 hours after the fight in his hotel room. He was previously undefeated with a 25-0-1 record until he lost to Fernando Montiel of Mexico in the sixth round. ( Related Stories: Alcazar dies of Brain Swelling 36 hours after match.)

Sergio Garcia on a mission to replace Tiger Woods

January 15, 2003 -- Sergio Garcia's goals remain the same, no matter how lofty they seem. He wants to win major championships and become the first player with money titles on both sides of the Atlantic.

That means beating Tiger Woods, which might be the loftiest goal of all.

"I think he's a great player. He's probably going to be one of the best players ever," Garcia said. "Hopefully, I'll try to make that not possible."

Garcia has been nipping at Woods' heels ever since he stole the show - and almost the trophy - from Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship.

Their battles have been rare, but entertaining. The last one that mattered came in the U.S. Open at Bethpage, where Woods knocked Garcia out early and cruised to a three-stroke victory over Mickelson.

Still, Garcia doesn't pay homage to Woods like some players. He doesn't think it's a lock that Woods will win a record fifth straight money title. Garcia sees no reason why he can't replace Woods as No. 1 in the world.

"I know what I've got to do," said Garcia, who turns 23 on Thursday. "I know what my goals are, what I want to achieve."

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