Pretty good!
Just finished watching it and I thought that it was pretty good. Not nearly as good as I thought that it was going to be. But pretty good nonetheless.
I had moments of smiling and moments of sadness. I was saddened by just listening to those greats(like Pellot) talk about the injustice that they had to endure. I was smiling when I saw that most of them stuck together to make themselves feel better.
I was so saddened to re-live Clemente's death. I was so happy, again, when I re-lived Tiant's parent reunion(I was a kid back them but I still remember)
I was so happy to see one of my favorite player of all time conduct himself as the gentleman that he has always been, Mr Rod Carew, to me, he has been the best Latin player that has put on an uniform. He was the only player that when he played against my beloved Yankees, I wanted him to get a hit all the time. I was very biased when it came to Mr Carew. What a great player and hit machine!!. Panama should honor him every month!!
They focused more on Cuban players than anything else. They forgot to mention so many great Latin players. Who can forget when the three Alou brothers, Mateo, Felipe and Jesus, played the outfield for the same team. Can you imagine, right, center and left field being player, the same day, by three brothers, amazing!.
How can they not mention that Marichal and Roseboro, after the bat incident, became good friends until his death.
How can they not mention Tommy Lasorda's inpact on Dominican ball players. Lasorda should be credited for getting so many Licey ball players to the big leagues.
One of the happiest moments that I had during the film, was at the very end, when they started showing player's cards. I gave me such a warm feeling to see some of the players that I grew up watching and admiring. So many memories came back into my mind. I felt like a little kid all over again. I started remembering so many wonderful moments of my childhood when EVERYTHING was about baseball. I would NEVER forget:
Roberto Clemente- This man was so good that every single Puerto Rican should kiss the ground every single time they hear the name "Roberto Clemente" being mentioned. And I think that they DO!. A great player and a greater human being!. He was so passionate about the game. It showed that he played for the love of the game!.
Pedro Borbon- One of the first Dominican "troublemaker". All of a sudden I remembered him fighting with his teammate and countryman, Cesar Geronimo. I thought about the fight that he had with someone and when everything calmed down, without knowing, he put his opponent's cap on and when he found out that the cap belonged to the guy that he just fought, Borbon took the cap off and started biting it, over and over. LOL.
Mateo (Marty) Alou- Faster than a speeding bullet. Great hitter and one of the greatest bunter of all times. The best of the Alou's would sometimes bunt the ball by just waiting for the pitcher to make his delivery and before the bat made contact with the ball, he would be halfway into first base. It was like he just left the bat waiting for the ball and he would start running before they came into contact. Won a few batting tittles also. What talents.
Jesus Alou- I believe that there was way to much pressure for him to be like his brothers. He was the outspoken one, or should I say, the one that would not take any crap from anybody. So different than his 2 brothers.
David (Dave) Concepcion- The Venezuelan that many think should be in the Hall of Fame. What a great player. A master in SS. I thing that the Reds, in the 70's, had the best team of their generation. Imagine this: Tony Perez in first, Joe Morgan in 2nd, David Concepcion in SS, Pete Rose in Third, Johnny Bench catching, George Foster in Left Field, Cesar Geronimo in Center Field, Ed Milner/Ken Griffey, Sr/others on Right Field. No wonder they won so many times in the 70's. What a great team. I loved watching them as much as I loved watching the Yankees.
Julian Javier- My family, in the DR, knows this man personally and he is nothing more than a gentleman. He grew up 2 blocks away from where I was born. My family was very close with his mother. All the kids from the neighborhood wanted to be just like him, me included. It's a shame that he never reached his potential.
Jose Cruz- The Puerto Rican was a master at the plate. I remembered hoping to be a leftie so I could have the same stance that Jose had at the plate. Not a bad fielder either. I am still a big fan of his.
Willie Montanez- The thing that I remember about this good Puerto Rican player was how fricking easy was for him to play first base. Sometimes, while covering first, he would just wait for the ball to reach his glove and then he would just tap the base once at the same time (when he heard the ball hit the glove, then he would tap first base). And let's not forget, also, that when he hit a homer, he would run the bases and when he was nearing the bases, he would slow down, do a little tap tap tap and then touch the base and keep running until he reached the next base and start with the tapping again. Very talented player, even when playing for the Mets.
Felix Millan- Good defense. To bad that he lacked offense. Maybe someone should had told him that if he wanted to be a home run hitter, he should hold the bat at the end and not about 5 inches from the bottom, lol. A tough cookie. I still remember when Pete Rose tried to take him down while sliding into second and him going after Rose, ball in hand, to fight him just to find that "monster" Rose was way to big for him. Big mustache and all, Rose kicked his butt. This Puerto Rican was a good player.
Franklin (Frank) Taveras- Not bad with the Glove. Not that good with the bat. This guys is one of the luckiest man alive. The Mets, many moons ago, were in such need for defense that they signed this Dominican to the strangest of all contract of his era. Get this: He was given a luxury boat and a contract that would pay Taveras a few hundred thousand dollars until he reached the age of, get this, 65!!!!. Can you believe that the guy is STILL getting a check from the Mets' organization even thought he retired years and years and years and years ago!!!!?. Lucky bastard, LOL.
Manuel (Manny) Mota- Who can forget this Dominican gentleman. He, along with Lasorda helped so many Dominicans feel "at home" while they were away from their families. Not only was he a good player and one of the greatest pinch hitter of all times, but he has been involved with the Dodgers organization, in one way or another, for over 40 years!!!!. Mr "smiles" is one of the nicest Dominican to play in the big leagues. The DR should be so proud of this man for what he did on and off the field.
Cesar (Cesarin) Geronimo- What can I say about this quiet Dominican?. He had the fortune to play for a team, Reds, that was full of great players. Although Geronimo was not a great hitter, I have not seen ANYBODY be a better Center Fielder than this man. Even Pete Rose said that he was glad that he played in the same team as Cesar because if not, many of his hits would had been caught by him. This skinny and serious should be very proud of himself for being one of the greatest Center Fielder, IMO, of all times.
Cesar Cedeno- The luckiest man alive!. Not only did he married the "boss" daughter when he played for the Astros but also because he was in the DR when he killed that girl (his lover or whatever she was)in his hotel room in the off season. Many thought that he had the talent to be the next Roberto Clemente but he did not come even close. Had the potential but since he thought that his "****" did not stink, he never reached it. How close he got to be like Clemente?, imo, Clemente was a 9 and Cedeno was a 3, if that!. I wonder if he is still saying that he did not killed that girl.
Joaquin Andujar- Never liked this "hotdog". This Dominican was nothing more than a troublemaker. Very talented but let his temper get the best of him. I still remember Bonds calling him a "hotdog' after Andujar walked him and Andujar following Bonds all the way to first base while calling Bonds all kind of bad names. He did the same thing to Darryl Strawberry. The Andujar versus Gooden duels were legendary back then!.
Ricardo (Rico) Carty- The man was not only a good player, but also a gentleman. This very tall Dominican was feared by many pitchers. It was a shame that he got injured so many times. I was such a fan of this giant.
Mario Soto- Even thought this Dominican had talent to give away and played for the Reds, he was always hurting his pitching arm. He had a few good seasons until his arm just gave out.
Miguel Dilone- Has there been any faster Dominican than this guy?. Good outfielder but not a good hitter.
Omar Moreno- This player from Panama was so good in the outfield that I believe that hitters were afraid to hit to ball his way because they knew that there was a big chance that they were going to be "out". Although he was not that good with the bat, the Pirates, imo, should retire his number.
Jorge Bell- I disliked this "cry-baby" even more than I disliked Andujar. The biggest of all Dominican troublemakers. This guy was such a moron that when his team fans would boo him, he would tell the press that he did not cared because he was a millionaire and that the fan were going to their jobs as factory workers!. This prick even told the Toronto manager that he was just a manager and that they would get rid of the manager before the team got rid of him!. I was so happy when Toronto gave this jack axx the 'walking papers"!.
Pedro Guerrero- He was a very good and feared hitter. To bad that he was always injured. I remember, as if it was yesterday, that this Dominican was such a bad third baseman that when they asked his teammate, Steve Sax, if he liked the ball to be hit towards him, he replied that he prays that the ball was not hit to him or to Guerrero. Or was it the other way around?, LOL.
Tony Pena- Very, very good catcher. This Dominican was not such a good hitter, then again, catcher were not expected to be good hitters.
Manuel (Manny) Sanguillen- This man from Pamana was a good catcher and an ok hitter. I was very happy that he was interviewed for this film because this man should be proud for all his contributions to baseball. Man, the man is still as ugly as when he played, LOL. I was a big fan of his.
Dickie Thon- This Puerto Rican had so much talent. What a fricking shame that his career was cut short. So much wasted talent. I remember watching that infamous game on tv, you know, the game where he was batting and was hit by a pitch right on his face. I still get a chill down my spine when I remember that incident. I am so sorry that he was never the same after that. After that, his life did a complete turnaround. He was so unhappy and mad at the world. Thank God that he dealt with it like a man and conquered all his demons.
I remember so many Latin players that it would take a few "pages" to mention so I will count my blessings and stop now.
There are so many good Dominican ball players that should had been mentioned but I guess that they needed to make a 5 hour film and not a 2 hour one. The only that does not escape my mind is Nino Espinosa. Nino was not that great but was good enough. I really enjoyed watching him play for the Mets. What a shame that he died so young.
There you go guys, there goes my review and lets not forget this are only my opinions.
I do have one last thing to say about the documentary:
What in hell was Keith Hernandez's role on it?????. This guy only contribution was to say that Latin players are hot tempered. Like we needed him to tell us that, lol. On a side note, and this is my opinion of Keith: since I was a young lad, I always thought that Hernandez was a little "fruity", if you know what I mean. Every single time I see this man talk, move his hands and his head, I can not help but think that he has a thing for "bats", even if he married a few months ago for the first time!!.
Btw, I will not say anything about Julio "ageless" Franco, Samuel "steriods" Sosa, Rafael "I have never used steroids" Palmeiro or the greatest catcher that has ever lived, Ivan Rodriguez because they are still active.
Very good film, not great but very good!.
Sorry for the long post. If SOME of you think that it's to long, please don't read and remember that it could have been much longer, hihihihi!!!!!!!!!.
what was funny was when Babe Ruth's comeback.... and said you better get that arm here .