In this installment I will continue with the first feats recorded by Dominican players in Major League Baseball.
BIGGEST CONTRACT: Alex Rodriguez signed a ten-year, $ 252 million contract with the Texas Rangers in 2000, the most substantial salary deal in Major League history up to that point.
A DOMINICAN MANAGER: The Major League Baseball Commissioner’s office appointed Omar Minaya as general manager of the Montreal Expos in 2001. In this way, Minaya became the first Latino to hold that position.
THREE 60 HR STATIONS: In the 2001 season, Sammy Sosa finished with 64 home runs and became the only player in history to record three seasons with 60 or more home runs. The Bambino del Caribe had fired 66 tetrabases in 1998 and 63 the following year.
THREE HOMES IN ONE GAME: In that same season in 2001, Sosa became the first hitter to hit three home runs in three different games. That feat also made him the only player with six career three-homers.
RECORD FOR A TORPEDERO: Alex Rodriguez, wearing a Rangers uniform, hit 52 home runs in the 2001 season, setting a record for home runs for a shortstop in one season.
THE CASTLE HITS CHAIN: In the 2002 campaign, Dominican Luis Castillo, playing with the Florida Marlins, hit a hit in 35 consecutive games, breaking the mark for a Latin American player who was 34, held by Puerto Rican Benito Santiago, imposed in 1987. From step, Castillo broke the record for a batsman from Oaxaca, shared by Ricardo Carty and Vladimir Guerrero, who put together chains of 31 straight games connecting cleanly. Castillo’s streak began on May 8 and ended on June 21, registering a .403 average in that period, shooting 62 hits in 154 at-bats, including 4 doubles and 2 home runs, scoring 24 runs and producing 14. In addition, he received 8 transfers, was struck out 16 times, stole 11 bases and his average rose from .262 to .341, getting 17 multi-hitters. Before his storied run of hitting games, Castillo had woven chains of 22 and 19 games, in 1999 and 2000, respectively.
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