Santo Domingo, RD.
The Dominican Republic shines in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame with four exalted Creole players inside the temple located in the small town of Cooperstown, one of the most visited museums in the world.
The history of Dominican baseball players exalted in the Hall of Fame began with Juan Marichal.
It was in July 1983. Marichal, in front of thousands of people in Cooperstown, gave his speech after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, becoming the first Dominican player with a plaque in the hall of immortality.
Laguna Verde native Montecristi is one of the greatest pitching symbols of both Major League Baseball and Dominican professional baseball.
Then Pedro Martínez followed in Marichal’s footsteps and in 2015 he entered the Pavilion.
Pedro “El Grande,” as he was known, seemed too small and skinny to be a pitcher. Some predicted that it would not withstand the challenge represented by the Major Leagues and thus lost the privilege of entering its history.
The pitcher was the winner of three Cy Young Awards, the award given by the Major Leagues to the kings of the mound.
The third Dominican to achieve it was Vladimir Guerrero in 2018.
During his professional baseball career, Vladimir finished in the top 15 in voting for the Most Valuable Player award 10 times. In addition, he was named the most valuable player in the American League in 2004 and in the 2005 and 2007 seasons he finished third.
The right-handed hitter compiled a .318 batting average, had a .533 slugging percentage; .931 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage); he hit a total of 449 home runs and had 1,496 RBIs at the plate. The Creole, a native of Nizao, scored 1,328 runs.
He played with the Montreal Expos, Baltimore Orioles, Anaheim Angels, and Texas Rangers.
Today, David Ortiz has become the fourth Dominican to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, after the votes of the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) were revealed today with right to vote.
