As you probably know, I once had a promising future as a professional baseball player. I was one of the best pitchers in the league. Critics would say, that it was only because I was a 10 year old in a league of 8 year olds. But I have never been one to listen to the critics. Sure, there were rumors, rumors that I was doping, rumors that I was on a team with younger kids because I wasn't that good, or because I thought the protective cup went over the pants. However the truth was, I was in that league because of an irreversible glitch when I was registering.
So there I was, a 10 year old at the peak of my athletic career. I'm not going to lie, I was living the fast life. I guess you could say I was on a crash course for disaster. I remember there was one time I drank so much lemonade before a game that I threw up all over the dug out. Coach benched me for four games on account of that and told me that I need to clean up my act or kick rocks. I really believe coach saved my life. I knew what I had to do, the unfortunate thing was after my four game suspension , it was like every eight year old could hit my 45mph fast ball. So I begged and pleaded my parents to let me get Tommy John Surgery but they refused.
So alas, I did the only thing I could think to do. I ran away to Puerto Rico and got on a little league team in San Juan, with the intention to play the season and save up to pay for the Tommy John surgery myself. It was a good time in my life. I took the name Jamie (pronounced Himay) Baya. I was clean, I threw a couple no nos, and was making quite a name for myself in the Puerto Rican little league scene. Then, disaster struck. It was a couple weeks into the playoffs, when the San Juan paper did an investigative story on me. It was a real hack job and very unfortunate in how it went down. But they found out that I wasn't really Puerto Rican and made allegations that I wasn't really 8. I was promptly deported back to the U.S.
One thing I took away from my time in Puerto Rico was a great love for the Puerto Rican baseball legend Roberto Clemente. Clemente was the first Latin American baseball player to play professional baseball in the U.S. There have been a handful since. He played for the same team for 18 seasons. He had exactly 3000 hits. He was the first Latin American player to win a league MVP, World Series MVP, and be elected into the Hall of Fame But what is more impressive than these stats was what an incredible humanitarian he was.
He would always visit children in hospitals when he traveled to away games. When Nicaragua suffered a terrible earthquake, Clemente organized drives to collect health equipments, clothes and food for the Nicaraguan people. Sadly, it was brought to his attention that these goods were getting diverted at the airport and not to the people that needed them. So Clemente, being a man of action, thought if he were there at the Nicaraguan airport, he could make sure the goods got to the people. Unfortunately, the plane he was in crashed before it could get to Nicaragua, killing him and three other passengers.
Clemente has a quote that I love, because it speaks to simple humanity, he said
"'Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth.''
So true Roberto... tan cierto.
In the spirit of Roberto Clemente, I would like to offer information on a great organization that supports orphans in Nicaragua. Like myself, Tommy Weiglein, the Program Director at ORPHANetwork (pronounced Orphan Network... not Orphan etwork or Orpha network) is a tremendous dancer. He also has a tremendous heart for the orphans in Nicaragua.
What ORPHANetwork is doing, is bettering the lives of children living in orphanages all over Nicaragua. They are establishing standards of care for orphanages, and in doing so are bettering the lives of orphans and the workers in the orphanages. They also have a child sponsorship program that connects orphans with American families, this gives the orphan an advocate and some personal attention that is often missed when living in an orphanage. It also gives those living in the US some "buy in" to the orphan epidemic. What stands out about O-network to me is that they don't stop with orphan care. They have a transition program that helps the orphan as they age out of the orphanage.
I tip my cap to ORPHANetwork, and strongly encourage you to check out their website and give generously to them.
So there I was, a 10 year old at the peak of my athletic career. I'm not going to lie, I was living the fast life. I guess you could say I was on a crash course for disaster. I remember there was one time I drank so much lemonade before a game that I threw up all over the dug out. Coach benched me for four games on account of that and told me that I need to clean up my act or kick rocks. I really believe coach saved my life. I knew what I had to do, the unfortunate thing was after my four game suspension , it was like every eight year old could hit my 45mph fast ball. So I begged and pleaded my parents to let me get Tommy John Surgery but they refused.
So alas, I did the only thing I could think to do. I ran away to Puerto Rico and got on a little league team in San Juan, with the intention to play the season and save up to pay for the Tommy John surgery myself. It was a good time in my life. I took the name Jamie (pronounced Himay) Baya. I was clean, I threw a couple no nos, and was making quite a name for myself in the Puerto Rican little league scene. Then, disaster struck. It was a couple weeks into the playoffs, when the San Juan paper did an investigative story on me. It was a real hack job and very unfortunate in how it went down. But they found out that I wasn't really Puerto Rican and made allegations that I wasn't really 8. I was promptly deported back to the U.S.
One thing I took away from my time in Puerto Rico was a great love for the Puerto Rican baseball legend Roberto Clemente. Clemente was the first Latin American baseball player to play professional baseball in the U.S. There have been a handful since. He played for the same team for 18 seasons. He had exactly 3000 hits. He was the first Latin American player to win a league MVP, World Series MVP, and be elected into the Hall of Fame But what is more impressive than these stats was what an incredible humanitarian he was. He would always visit children in hospitals when he traveled to away games. When Nicaragua suffered a terrible earthquake, Clemente organized drives to collect health equipments, clothes and food for the Nicaraguan people. Sadly, it was brought to his attention that these goods were getting diverted at the airport and not to the people that needed them. So Clemente, being a man of action, thought if he were there at the Nicaraguan airport, he could make sure the goods got to the people. Unfortunately, the plane he was in crashed before it could get to Nicaragua, killing him and three other passengers.
Clemente has a quote that I love, because it speaks to simple humanity, he said
"'Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth.''
So true Roberto... tan cierto.
In the spirit of Roberto Clemente, I would like to offer information on a great organization that supports orphans in Nicaragua. Like myself, Tommy Weiglein, the Program Director at ORPHANetwork (pronounced Orphan Network... not Orphan etwork or Orpha network) is a tremendous dancer. He also has a tremendous heart for the orphans in Nicaragua.
What ORPHANetwork is doing, is bettering the lives of children living in orphanages all over Nicaragua. They are establishing standards of care for orphanages, and in doing so are bettering the lives of orphans and the workers in the orphanages. They also have a child sponsorship program that connects orphans with American families, this gives the orphan an advocate and some personal attention that is often missed when living in an orphanage. It also gives those living in the US some "buy in" to the orphan epidemic. What stands out about O-network to me is that they don't stop with orphan care. They have a transition program that helps the orphan as they age out of the orphanage.
I tip my cap to ORPHANetwork, and strongly encourage you to check out their website and give generously to them.
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