Small World, Big Tigers!

by Dale S on Sep 12, 2011 5:23 PM EDT

So I'm in Madrid, Spain, at a bar (which is practically redundant) and the bartender, in addition to being absolutely gorgeous, has a Dominican accent. It's late, the place is empty, he's just chilling, so I ask him if he is indeed Dominican, and when he says yes, I ask (assuming that a Dominican male is going to be into baseball) if he knows a place in the city to watch games. He says he doesn't, but asks me to please tell him if I find one because he is desperate too, and in fact he used to play baseball and misses it a lot. And so I ask him what level he played at, and he said AAA, and I said with what team, and he said.... you guessed it: THE TIGERS!!! He played for Toledo in 1999, but got hurt and never made it to the bigs.

I asked him for anecdotes--the best one I got so far is that he played with and was good friends with Fernando Rodney, and that when Rodney signed with the Tigers he (Rodney) was wearing a pair of pants that he (the bartender) had lent him (and which he never gave back). Also that he went to the same high school and grew up with Duaner Hernández. I was so excited that I forgot to ask him his name, but the bar is right around the corner and I plan to do many follow-up interviews! (Did I mention that he was gorgeous?)

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bless You Boys writing staff.

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Oops, I meant Duaner Sánchez

DEFIANTLY LOYAL Mascot of the "Bring back the Big Tilde in 2k11" Campaign

by Dale S on Sep 12, 2011 5:32 PM EDT reply actions

Lucky you :P

And damn, I want to play baseball for the Tigers :(

"Goaltending is a normal job, sure. How would you like it in your job if every time you made a small mistake, a red light went on over your desk and 15,000 people stood up and yelled at you."
-Jacques Plante

by DetroitSports on Sep 12, 2011 6:17 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, you may have mentioned his gorgeousness a time or two.

by frisbeepilot on Sep 12, 2011 7:40 PM EDT reply actions

I can see it now...

…the two of you, listening to Dan and Jim as he pours you another glass of Cuarenta Y Tres…

"Some guy told me I should walk with the Lord. I'd rather walk with the bases loaded" Ken Singleton

by NCDee on Sep 12, 2011 7:41 PM EDT reply actions

...while Rob does a cannonball into your pool

I can come visit, right?

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Sep 12, 2011 9:41 PM EDT up reply actions

If you were gorgeousrob1

Then yes. But you’re only “handsome.” ;)

by H2OPoloPunk on Sep 13, 2011 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

That's why I'm doing cannonballs into the pool

and not pouring glasses of 43 or whatever Dee said up there.

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Sep 13, 2011 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Great story

Spain is awesome. I went there with my wife in 2008 and loved every place we went (except one night at a scary hotel in Benelmadena/Malaga).

Enjoy yourself over there, and make sure you pace yourself with the sangria and jamon!

Guillen says‚ "¿Que?"

by 51hr_slurpee on Sep 13, 2011 11:29 AM EDT reply actions

Here's the 1999 Mud Hens roster

Erm, here.

From what I can tell you ran into one of six players: Robinson Checo, Luis Garcia, Romulo Martinez, Luis Polonia, Jose Ramirez or Willis Roberts. It probably wasn’t Checo- he developed in Boston. Garcia had 9 AB in the majors- that probably would have come up. Martinez got hurt in 1999- so there’s a good chance that’s him. He went to independent ball after that. Polonia came up with Oakland, so he’s out. Ramirez seems to have a spotty record after 1999 too, and he never played above AAA. Roberts got almost 250 innings in the majors.

So your hunky bartender is probably either Romulo Martinez or Jose Ramirez.- if B-R is accurate. My money’s on Ramirez.

"Aside from the stuff I haven’t been diagnosed for yet, I don’t have a problem."- Phil Coke

Contributor, Bless You Boys

by David Tokarz on Sep 13, 2011 5:39 PM EDT reply actions