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Latin MLB players use Baltimore protests to tell stories of home countries

(AP)
(AP)

BALTIMORE — The White Sox and Orioles on Tuesday made their way through what Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis called a “war zone” to practice at Camden Yards before the first-ever fan-less Major League Baseball game on Wednesday, closed to the public because of days of protests here.

And at least for some players, the scenes of protestors demonstrating and rioting in the streets of Charm City, reminded them unfortunately of home.

Over the past few seasons, between 25 and 30 percent of Major League Baseball players are foreign-born, with many of those athletes coming from Latin countries, where political unrest is more the norm than an outlier. In 2014, 83 active roster players were born in the Dominican Republic and 59 players hailed from Venezuela — the two most represented countries in the MLB.

[MORE: How players, coaches prepared for the historic fan-less MLB game in Baltimore]

It makes sense, then, that the visiting Chicago White Sox would have representatives of both nations on their roster. Perhaps surprisingly, those players were inspired by what was happening around them, between two and three miles from the ballpark, to comment on the political realities they faced growing up.

In the White Sox clubhouse before Wednesday’s game, first baseman Adam LaRoche told Yahoo Sports about a rare exchange he had with teammates after practice Tuesday in which they shed light on their upbringings outside America.

“I’ll tell you what, yesterday, after practice, I had a couple of our Dominican and Venezuelan players show us footage from maybe two or three weeks ago from their home countries where they see this stuff goes on all the time,” LaRoche said. “So they're looking at us like, yeah, this is how we feel all the time at home. So that's what I mean.”

Adam LaRoche of the White Sox. (Getty Images)
Adam LaRoche of the White Sox. (Getty Images)

LaRoche would not say which players he talked to, but outfielder Avisail Garcia is Venezuelan and starting pitcher Hector Noesi, second baseman Emilio Bonifacio and outfielder Melky Cabrera hail from the Dominican.

[MORE: Sights and sounds from MLB's historic fan-less game in Baltimore]

“Some of that's somewhat personal stuff,” LaRoche said, when asked whom he spoke to, as Cuban phenom Jose Abreu blasted Spanish music from his locker a few feet away. “But they were just kind of saying, ‘Here, check this out, we see this all the time.’ So we're obviously incredibly spoiled here the fact that this is as rare as it is. So us missing a couple games and having to play with no one in the stands is not that big of a deal, compared with what people are going through.”

Even while acknowledging that the circumstances are less than ideal, especially from the people of Baltimore, LaRoche saw a small sliver of a silver lining. “This could also be a pretty good opportunity to put things in perspective of what other countries deal with every single day.”

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