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Yasiel Puig – A nice guy from my point of view

On August 2nd I think many people were surprised to hear that Yasiel Puig had been demoted to the minors. There are numerous stories published about all the issues. That he had been plagued by injuries and surrounded by issues off the field are listed in many articles on why he is headed to Oklahoma. I took the time to read a few and some just covered the statistics and last year’s record was not good, but it looked like it was improving this year. I’m not a baseball expert but I sure do love a good baseball game and I started going to more when Yasiel joined the team in 2013. His joining the team was one of the reasons we became involved with Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium.

Yasiel signed a 7-year contract for 42 million in 2012. Pretty great for a young man who tried 5 times before he successfully defected from Cuba. Look up his path out of Cuba to see a truly scary story that would make quite a drama/action movie, but that’s a whole other story.

Being part of Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium I got to spend some times behind the scenes and met Yasiel Puig at these events. He just seemed so young. He was always very sweet and seemed to enjoy having a day to celebrate Cuban Heritage. During the first event he brought his mother. He would change into our Cuban Heritage Day t-shirt and take the time to talk to the crowds. He was a nice boy the same age as my youngest son.

I’m sure the experts will continue to debate what happened, for me I wish him luck. Take this as a new starting point. Be cautious with your money, be careful who you spend time with, get serious about getting back into playing shape and watch for your next opportunity. Be humble and work hard, it’s what I would tell my sons.

The History of Cuban Heritage Day!

Way back in the summer of 2013 we heard about an event being held at Dodger Stadium. We decided to go check it out on a very hot day in August. The music was playing, everyone was dancing and we saw so many people we hadn’t seen in a while. Then we enjoyed some Dodgers Baseball. We thought, “This is great, hope they do this again next year”.

In 2014, we met Rose Marin Trujillo, who along with a few others had started Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium. We were officially invited to be part of the Cuban Heritage Day committee and we have never looked back. For the last three years, we have created an annual collector’s item. Along the way, we have also an enormous amount of fun. Here’s what 2014 looked like. Tony Plano throw the first ball, Yasiel Puig took a group picture with us and the Porto’s family received an award for their commitment to helping the community.

2015 was a new adventure and a new collector’s shirt was created. Nothing feels better than walking through Dodger Stadium and seeing crowds of people wearing a shirt we designed. Emilio Estefan throw out the first pitch and took pictures with our group. He was the nicest man and posed with everyone. The Gavina Family received an award from the Dodgers. Here are a few pictures from the 2015 event.

In 2016 there were changes at Dodger Stadium so instead of doing a t-shirt we did a collector’s hat for Cuban Heritage Day. We sold out on the hats and we saw so many people wearing the shirts from the previous two years. Dodgers won and we had a great time. No idea what will happen next year but we hope somewhere Cubans will get together and celebrate their heritage. Wherever that happens we hope we are there.