Before football, the Venezuelan was only a baseball fan. Baseball has been the sport that has given Venezuelans the most joy and international recognition. The first official game took place in 1895 and the first important triumph was obtained in 1941, giving way to a fervor and fanaticism that still lasts. Because it is normal to see Venezuelan children playing in the streets all over the country, with an improvised ball and bat, running imaginary bases and scoring home runs that will hit the roof of houses. Dreaming of big leagues and multimillion-dollar contracts.

As a sport that has opened the doors of other countries and given us worldwide fame, today I want to talk about Venezuelan baseball. As I was saying, it is a sport that most Venezuelans begin to practice from a very young age and also from an early age they are already fans of it, since in Venezuela, the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP) founded in 1945, plays games from October to January, having, at least, two large teams that have the noisiest fans in the world and are the eternal rivals: Navegantes del Magallanes and the incomparable and powerful, Leones del Caracas.

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Just as in a previous post I talked about how in every family there is a woman who could participate in the Miss Venezuela, I could also say that many are the parents who dream of having a son a baseball player. In Venezuela we have thousands of examples of boys who achieved success in Major League Baseball (MLB), considered the best specialty league in the Western Hemisphere. Such is the case of Luis Aparicio, who is the only Venezuelan exalted to the Baseball Hall of Fame; also David Concepción, Andrés Galarraga, Oswaldo Guillén, Bob Abreu, Antonio Armas, Omar Vizquel, Miguel Cabrera, Johan Santana, Wilson Álvarez, Francisco "El Kid" Rodríguez, José Altuve, Pablo Sandoval, Asdrubal Cabrera, Gleyber Torres, among many others.

Miguel Cabrera

Each of these baseball players has stood out for his talent and set a record. Proof of this is Omar Vizquel, who has the record for most short-stop games (23), and a total of 2,968 Major League Baseball games with the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays, from 1989 to 2012. There's also Oswaldo Guillén, better known as Ozzie Guillén, with whom under his direction the White Sox won the 2005 American League Championship Series for the first time in 46 years, becoming the first non-U.S. manager to lead a World Series team and win it. Or Felix Hernandez and Johan Santana, who were Cy Young; so was Miguel Cabrera, who twice won the Triple Crown batting. With this award, Cabrera became the first to do so since 1967, as well as the first Latino to have the title.

Omar Vizquel

I'm a baseball fan and specifically, in my country, I'm a fan of the Lions of Caracas and the first time I stepped on the University Stadium, home of the hairy, I felt a million emotions. I think that's how it must feel to get to heaven! That day I cried, I fought, I shouted and my heart beat as the heart of a runaway horse should. That day was my real baptism as a Caracas fan and it is one of my most treasured memories. Another memory that I keep alive was the day I saw a baseball game with my father and the great Antonio Armas threw a ball to a little girl sitting next to me. The girl was put in for the team dugout and from there she came out with a shirt, cap and ball signed by all the Lions of Caracas. I remember telling my father that I would have liked that ball to have been given to me. I remember my dad laughing but looking at me like I was crazy.

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It must be said that until a few years ago, in Venezuela there were the academies of the Marlins, Dodgers, Mets, Astros, Rojos, Orioles, Cardinals, Pirates, Parents, Red Sox, Brewers, Twins, White Sox, Nationals, Tiles and Sailors to recruit young prospects, who signed millionaire contracts to play in the United States. Unfortunately, due to the country's economic, political and social situation, many of these academies have closed their doors and had to leave.

That same crisis and the political problems that the Venezuelan government has with the United States caused the MLB (Major League Baseball) to issue a few days ago a communiqué in which it prohibited any worker unionized in the offices of the Major Leagues to participate in the tournament that will begin next October 18.

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As we can see, Venezuela's problem is not its people, who are talented, hardworking, and struggling; the problem is the government we currently have that not only takes away our opportunities and hope, but also the desire to dream big.

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