[外電] The Story Of My Life(1980-88)
1980
Even before I started catching, my favorite player growing up was Johnny Bench.
For some reason those Big Red Machine teams were always on TV in Puerto Rico.
And as a kid, I loved to watch Bench play. He did everything well, and he wasn’
t all that big. So watching him gave me some hope that I might have a shot.
Once I became a catcher, it kind of all made sense why I had liked him so much
as a little kid.
1980
在我開始蹲捕之前，我的偶像是Johnny Bench(*1)，原因是因為波多黎各的電視常常播著大
紅機器(*2)的比賽。當我還是個孩子的時候我超愛看Bench的比賽，他並不是那麼的強壯可
是他每一件事情都做得棒極了！看著他也帶給我一個我也可以打出一番成就的希望，所以為
什麼我成為捕手之後會像個小孩子一樣熱愛他也是有道理的。
1985
When I was 13, my dad moved me from my hometown to the San Juan Metroplex so I
could train at the Raiders Baseball Academy. That’s where all the scouts were.
I was on a traveling team, and we played all over the island. We also played
some games in the States against American Legion teams. We had a really good
team back then. We were very complete — good pitching, good offense, good
defense. We’d usually win all those tournaments.
1983
當我十三歲的時候，我爸爸為了讓我可以在Raiders 棒球學校練習就帶著我離開家鄉搬到
San Juan Metroplex。那裏到處都是球探，因為球隊沒有固定主場，我們在島上到處跟其他
球隊打球，我們也在美國本土跟一些美國地區的球隊比賽，我們真的是一隻好隊伍，非常的
完整－好的投手、好的進攻，好的防守，我們真的常常贏下不少比賽。
1988
Funny story about the day that I signed with the Rangers. I was 16 at the time,
and there was a big Prospects Showcase for a bunch of major league teams in San
Juan. Sandy Johnson was scouting for the Rangers then, and he was there with
Omar Minaya and Manny Batista, who were also scouts with Texas. Luis Rosa, the
owner of the baseball academy, had three or four catchers who he was
showcasing. The problem for me was that I was last on Luis’s list — fourth in
line. Literally. He was focused more on a few other catchers at the time. But
Sandy saw me warming up in the outfield — just throwing back and forth — and
he asked about me. He told Luis that he wanted to see me before the other
catchers there. So I started out as last in the group, but they jumped me to
first. And after my first throw down to second base, like as soon as it got to
the bag, Sandy turned to Omar and said: “Stop him. I don’t need to see
another throw. Don’t let him throw down to second again. Go tell Luis that I
want this kid.” He knew there were scouts from other teams there, and he
wanted to get to me first. So I went out to the parking lot and signed a
contract on the trunk of a car, and that was that.
1988
在我跟遊騎兵簽約的那一天有一個有趣的故事，那時我十六歲，在San Juan有一個大型的大
聯盟新秀測試會，Sandy Johnson是當時遊騎兵的球探，跟他一同的還有Omar Minaya（*3）
以及Manny Batista,他們當時也是德州的球探，棒球學校的老闆Luis Rosa想要展示一下他
旗下的三或四個捕手給他們瞧瞧，但有個問題是···我在Luis的名單裡面是排名第四。那
個時候他確實把焦點都放在其他的捕手身上，但Minaya一看到我在外野熱身的樣子－僅僅是
單純的傳接球，就開始問起我來，他告訴Luis在看其他捕手之前想先看看我，所以本來是在
最後的我，突然順位就跳到第一了，在我第一次快速地把球傳到二壘的時候，Sandy轉過去
對Omar說：「叫他停了，我不需要看其他人傳球了，不要再讓他傳球到二壘一次，告訴Luis
他就是我想要的那傢伙！」他知道其他隊的球探也在場，所以想要第一個拿下我，所以我就
走到球場外的拖車然後簽下了合約，這就是當時的故事。
*1:Jhonny Bench:名人堂成員,1967-1983紅人隊的主戰捕手，拿過新人王以及兩次MVP
連續十二年入選明星賽，拿下十座金手套
*2:大紅機器:辛辛那提紅人隊的暱稱，1970-1976年間以強大的火力稱霸國家聯盟
並拿下兩次世界大賽冠軍
*3:Omar Minaya:曾任遊騎兵球探，期間曾簽下Sammy Sosa以及Juan Gonzalez等知名選手
之後先後擔任大都會以及博覽會的GM
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Minaya真的很厲害，球探功力真的很厲害，即使GM手腕不好但是眼光很精準
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