Ricardo Rodriguez
and José Garcia: Episode 2
Ricardo Rodriguez and José Garcia arrive
in Great Falls, Montana, a small, white working-class
community where they'll play on the Dodgers'
Single-A Minor League team. Despite the language
gap, Ole and Marie Steinmac, the boys' host
parents, and the rest of the community embrace
the Latino players warmly. Ricardo and José
even become choir members at Ole and Marie's
church, singing hymns in Spanish.
"They say that in the U.S. there is a
lot of racism," says José. "We’re
not Americans, but they treat us well."
On the field, Ricardo performs as expected
and quickly becomes the team's ace pitcher,
winning five of his first six starts. José
is not so fortunate. He hurts his arm and
misses most of the season.
Off the field, the situation turns ugly when
one of José and Ricardo's teammates,
Ramón Martinez, is arrested and charged
with sexual assault by a local woman. While
many in the community want to believe Ramón
is innocent, for others, the incident confirms
stereotypes about Latino men. José
and Ricardo feel the change and stop attending
church with Ole and Marie. Ricardo says, "I
just want to leave this place."
When José and Ricardo return to the
Dominican Republic in the off-season, Ole
and Marie come to visit. It is their first
time visiting Latin America and they are very
happy to see the boys. José shows them
around Santo Domingo and Ricardo hosts them
at his home in the country.
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| Ricardo on
the pitcher’s mound |
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| José
visits the Dominican Republic |
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