Kiké Hernandez learned Wednesday afternoon that the Major League Baseball Players’ Association and MLB agreed to commit $5 million over the course of the next Basic Agreement “toward the support and creation of baseball development programs in Puerto Rico.”
Hernandez is the only native of Puerto Rico on the Dodgers’ major league roster. A native of Toa Baja, his father is an area scout in Puerto Rico for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The development of baseball in his homeland is deeply personal.
The timing of Wednesday’s announcement was also noteworthy. Puerto Rico recently defaulted on about $2 billion in debt payments, prompting Congress to pass a financial aid/oversight bill known as the PROMESA Act.
Five million dollars seems like a drop in the bucket by comparison. To Hernandez, every little bit counts.
“Finally they want to help us out and I feel like there’s a lot of talent in Puerto Rico that doesn’t get anywhere just because of opportunities and stuff,” he said. “The fact that MLB [and the MLBPA] is going in there and doing something, that’s going to be good for baseball. It’s going to be good for Puerto Rico. Obviously there’s a lot of bad things going on down there right now with the economy and stuff, so I feel like a little help like that is going to help kids out. They can help change some lives.”
In addition to their financial contribution, MLB and the MLBPA announced “a plan to enhance the sport’s visibility on the island by staging Major League games and special events there to complement the financial support for the growth of the game.” No further details were offered in the joint press release by the league and the union.
“Today’s announcement provides us with an opportunity to honor Puerto Rico’s long-standing commitment to the game in a way that will allow the sport to flourish there in the future,” MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark said in a statement. “Puerto Rico has played an important role throughout the history of our great game, and efforts to help expand the sport’s popularity and participation there will benefit the entire baseball community.”
“Puerto Rico’s outstanding baseball tradition has produced great Major League players and fans of our game,” Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. said. “We look forward to returning to the island to play regular season games and supporting initiatives that will allow Puerto Rican kids to play baseball.”