Roberto Alomar Research Paper

A Padre To All

Roberto Alomar is known today as one of the best second basemen to ever play the game of baseball. He was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, but moved to Salinas at a young age. Roberto started playing baseball and had an incredible natural talent. His father, Sandy Sr., was a professional baseball player and played for fifteen different teams in his career. Roberto also had a younger brother who ended up playing catcher in the MLB. Roberto ended his professional career with a batting average of .300, compared to a current league average of .244, his average was extremely impressive. Even though Roberto had some low points in his career, his outstanding accomplishments

overshadowed the bad.
Roberto Alomar grew up around the sport of baseball, mainly because of Sandy Sr.’s success. When Roberto was born on February 5th, 1968 he was raised by his mother because his father was always moving to play for different teams. The only times Roberto would see his father was when he visited him in the summer. During the summer, Roberto would get to watch his father and teammates practice which increased his love for the game. Roberto Alomar has a brother named Sandy Jr. As kids, they both played baseball, but Roberto took more interest in the game, as Sandy Jr. wanted to become a pilot as a kid. Nevertheless, they were both great players starting at a young age. At seven years old Roberto’s coaches were worried that because of his natural talent he would not put in enough effort to improve. He attended Luis Munoz Rivera High School, where he was a star baseball player and caught the attention of professional coaches. In 1985, when Roberto was twenty years old, he started playing for the Charleston Rainbows, which is now called the Charleston Riverdogs. With the Rainbows, he hit zero home runs but excelled at stealing bases with 36. His minor league career consisted of four teams, with a break in the middle when he briefly played in the major league. Throughout his career, he always had an exceptional batting average, but he did not hit many home runs (only 210 in career). Roberto’s second year showed coaches that he had potential when he had a batting average of .295. This is noteworthy because today the average batting average throughout the league is only .244. Alomar's childhood and minor league career prepared him for the competitive major league.
Roberto Alomar's professional career did not go unnoticed as he was the recipient of many awards and was later inducted into the baseball hall of fame. The first year of playing with the San Diego Padres was a learning experience for Roberto because the next year he dropped back down to the minor leagues. His second year playing for the San Diego Padres, in 1988, he turned ninety-one hits into double outs. By the end of his career, this was in his top five double outs in one season. His first award came in 1990 when he was announced an All-Star. However, he was not a “one-hit wonder”, he improved each season and his name started surfacing as one of the best second base players in the league. Then in 1996, he made what would be the greatest mistake of his professional career. During a regulation game, he was up to bat and Hirschbeck, the umpire, called a ball by the pitcher a strike. This angered Alomar because he did not even swing for it. He started to argue with Hirschbeck and was quickly ejected. Instead of leaving, he proceeded to yell at the umpire even more and later spit in his face. The next day a picture of Alomar spitting found its way to the internet and went viral. This incident overshadowed the fact that he had his all-time most home runs this same season with twenty-two. After he continued playing exceptionally for eight straight seasons, he retired on March 19, 2005.
In 2009, a few years after he retired, he was accused of giving his girlfriend AIDS.

Alomar's girlfriend, Ilya Dall sued him and requested fifteen million dollars. Around a month later Ilya withdrew her lawsuit after discovering that she did not have AIDS. In 2010 his wife, Maria Alomar called the police and accused Roberto of threatening her with a knife and forcefully shoving her against a wall. Alomar was forced to stay 500 feet away from Maria at all times until the hearing on August 13th. A few days after the incident Alomar's agent released a statement saying “Mr. Alomar looks forward to his day in court, where he is certain the truth will emerge.” Alomar was found innocent and was not arrested. A few years later he was eligible for the MLB hall of fame. The first time he did not get inducted by eight votes and most suspect this was because of the spitting incident back in 1996. Then one year later, in 2011 he was inducted into the hall of fame and had his number retired. Today he is living in Toronto married to his wife, Kim Perks. He is running his company Alomar Baseball which supplies high-quality gear and organizing camps to get kids excited about baseball. Most recently Alomar has started a non-profit called Foundation 12 which is raising money for Puerto Rican families affected in his old

community.
Roberto Alomar was a respected baseball player who was admired by many fans. While he was great on the diamond, his personal life shadowed some of his great accomplishments. Up until the year 1996, Alomar was only known for his baseball skills, but sadly he made some mistakes that spiraled. When he lost his temper and spit at an umpire he was no longer seen as just an athlete. Many started to say that he was a sore loser, and had a short temper. After this, he did not make many mistakes on the field and his play continued to dominate. However, as I said earlier acquisitions started to arise about Alomar passing on AIDS to his girlfriend. Then he was later accused of threatening his wife with a knife. Roberto Alomar has recently started a non-profit named Foundation 12, which was started to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Maria. This shows that Roberto is using his money for good reasons and he cares about his old home. Even today Roberto is remembered for his great play on the diamond and is seen as an idol to many.
Roberto Alomar helped revolutionize what second basemen could contribute to a team. With his father, Sandy Sr.’s help he quickly started and continued to dominate the game. Roberto Alomar may have had a difficult life filled with false accusations but he stayed true to his strong morals and remained true to himself.