Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Renteria and Cabrera

ESPN The Magazine's Jorge Arangure Jr. has written a fascinating story about the rivalry cum feud between fellow Colombians Edgar Renteria and Orlando Cabrera:

The two best baseball players in the history of their country are not on speaking terms.

The reasons are rooted in Colombia, a soccer-loving South American nation where baseball struggles to take hold along a coastal stretch of highway. On this main road, Highway 90, high-rise condos sprout one after another, poor indigenous country folk sell fried foods and local cheeses from shabby huts, and soldiers man roadblocks searching for rebels and bombs. The highway connects Cartagena, the majestic tourist city where the 33-year-old Cabrera grew up, and Barranquilla,its industrial rival 72 miles to the northeast, which produced the 32-year-old Rentería.
Definitely worth the time. After reading it, don't forget to check out the unusually-enlightening sidebar.

1 comment:

Alex Brissette said...

Ah, too late for this comment to be relevent. Oh well. I'm surprised the negative light this article shines on Renteria. When he was with the Braves, I constantly heard him referred to as a quiet team leader and a model professional. But the article makes him sound somewhat petty. There's probably more to the story...

At the same time, it's really cool to read about these players' backgrounds. There's such a "what have you done for me lately" attitude in baseball that it's refreshing to read the human side of a player's story.