Bands playing, baseball-loving fans cheering amid 85 degree weather in San Juan, Puerto Rico. April 1, 2001 by administrator@baseballhistorian.com - Internet News Service Pastelillos and pina coladas instead of peanuts and hot dogs were the game's norm as a stadium packed crowd of 19,891 attended the first-ever, regular-season major league game played in Puerto Rico and watched the Toronto Blue Jays pound the Texas Rangers 8-1, in Sunday's opening day of the 2001 season. Fans scurried outside the park - before the game - buying baseball caps, jerseys, T-shirts and other souvenirs. There even was a concession stand that sold only Roberto Clemente's stuff. Clemente, a member of the Hall of Fame is a native of Puetro Rico, played his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and finished his career with 3,000 hits is a legend in baseball lore. Orlando Cepeda, another native of Puerto Rico and Hall of Famer, said it best: "People love baseball here, and it is difficult to describe the passion... this is a fantastic thing for this country." Clemente's wife, Vera, and Cepeda threw out the honorable first pitch. All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez was the team's only active Puerto Rico native player on the Rangers, but they also have outfielder Ricky Ledee who's on the DL. Rodriguez and his 8-year old son, Ivan Jr., dressed in a Rangers' uniform, came onto the field waving their country's flag during pre-game introductions. Carlos Delgado and Jose Cruz, Jr. are the two natives of Puerto Rico on the Toronto Blue Jays' team. The Ball Game: Shortstop Alex Rodriguez, baseball's first $252 million player, got the 2001 season's first hit - a grounder into left field in the first inning and scored the Rangers only run. The Blue Jays scored early and often against Rangers' starter Rick Helling (0-1) and reliever Mark Petkovsek to build a 8-1 lead going into the eight inning. Helling surrendered 4-hits, 4-runs thru 6 innings, Petkovsek got shelled for 4-hits, 4-runs without retiring a single Toronto batter. The game's winning pitcher was Esteban Loaiza (1-0) who allowed 8-hits, 1-run in 7 innings. Quick Statistics: Toronto: Shannon Stewart, LF, 3-for-5, 2 Runs, 2 RBIs... Alex Gonzales, SS, 3-for-5, 1 Run, 1 RBI. Doubles: Stewart, Gonzalez and Homer Bush... Homers: Stewart and Tony Batista Rangers: Alex Rodriguez, SS, 2-for-4, 1 Run... Ken Caminiti, 3B, 2-for-4... Rafael Palmeiro, 1B, 0-for-4, 1 RBI. =========================================================== For complete stats of all baseball players, please see Players section on the upper left-side of our home page For loads of fun reading, type in Yankees, Cardinals, Pirates, Red Sox, Cubs or all other teams in our Search on the lower left-side of our home page |