The Alomars: On Baseball, Parenting, and Being Puerto Rican

One of the traditional roles that fathers assume is that of advisor or role model for their sons, especially in terms of career choices. Savannah Williams and Wayne Patterson’s essay, “In His Father’s Spike Marks: Parental Influences on the Choice of Baseball as a Career,” describes the choice of a baseball career as a developmental process based on certain factors, including (1) initial experiences—throwing, fielding, batting—of sons with their fathers, (2) a son’s involvement in organized baseball leagues from a young age, (3) sons watching their fathers on the playing field, and (4) the help fathers offer with respect to the mental aspects of the game (Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American Culture, ed. Alvin Hall, [Westport, CT: Meckler, 1991]). Baseball is one of the few professions, according to Williams and Patterson, in which the sons of professional players have these initial experiences with their fathers within the context of the sport.

In summer 2005 at Shea Stadium, I interviewed Santos (Sandy) Alomar, New York Mets bench coach, about his role in the development of his sons—Sandy Jr. (Santito) and Roberto—as youngsters and later as established professional baseball players. Santos has been involved in professional baseball for the last forty-seven years as a player, coach, minor-league roving instructor, manager, and general manager in Puerto Rico and the United States. He played in 1,481 games with six major-league clubs from 1964 through 1978) and was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1970. He set a big, league mark in 1971 by going to the plate 739 times without being hit by a pitch, a record that still stands.

Santos referred to the role of his wife Maria in raising the two boys while he played and coached in the States. In a subsequent interview by phone from Puerto Rico, I verified that her influence was indeed significant. These conversations were conducted in Spanish.

What lessons did they learn from you in the early years?

santos: That they should believe in their parents and listen to them. Stay healthy and don’t use drugs. If you want to make something of yourself, give yourself time to realize those dreams and goals. I told them to always tell the truth, even if their lives depended on it. This began to instill in them a mentality of responsibility. We live in a small town [Salinas] where everyone knows each other. If anything wrong happened, we would always find out. If I sensed something wasn’t right, I’d ask about it and get an explanation from them. We trusted them, and they, in turn, believed in us and always told us the truth. We wouldn’t change anything in our approach. We’ve been the best of friends through all the good times and bad times, and we always will.

My kids and I used to play with just about anything . . . hitting bottle caps or quenepas [a seasonal native fruit with a hard inner core] with a broomstick or throwing rubber or tennis balls to them up against a wall. Later on the boys would practice with me and my teammates on the field, retrieving balls in the outfield, playing pepper, or borrowing gloves and going behind the outfield fence or in the bullpen to play catch. Sometimes I would hit grounders to them in the infield. Once Roberto got hit in the mouth from a bad bounce, cut his tongue and started to cry. I said, “If you want to be a ballplayer, then just grab an ice cube and put it on your tongue.”

The other thing I tried to teach them is the aspect of anticipation and visualizing, so that when you have to react in any given situation, it will come automatically. I also taught them the importance of using the scoreboard. You strategize according to the score, number of outs, the inning, and the situation in the game. The batter, runner, pitcher, and the rest of the fielders all play according to the situation that they are in.

maria...