The spotlight of the US sports press is on Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs
again as he goes to bat for his 500th homerun. He begins the season with a
499 mark. With one more homer, Sosa will become the 18th member of the
500-homer club and the first Hispanic player.
Around 80 Dominicans are on the rosters of 30 Major League teams. The bigger names include Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, Miguel Tejada, Vladimir
Guerrero, Alfonso Soriano, Alberto Pujols, Pedro Martinez and Bartolo Colon.
The focus again this year will be on Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez (27 years, 246 days) could become the youngest player ever to reach the 300 homerun mark with his next round tripper. His fifth inning homerun off Angels starter John Lackey on Sunday marked the 299th of the shortstops’ career. He only needs 142 RBI?s to reach the 1,000 mark.
In addition, Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox needs only 78 strikeouts to better the all-time Dominican record of 2,303 held by Juan Marichal?s, the Dominican?s only member of the US Baseball Hall of Fame.
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