Puerto Rico Winter Baseball

Ballpark Spanish

Signs at Santurce, as well as the http://www.santurcebaseballclub.com unofficial Santurce web site (inactive in 2023), are bilingual, but nothing else at the ballparks is in English, including the officiating and broadcast of the games. Some baseball terms are carried over, such as strike, shortstop (siore or campo corto, which is really "short field"), home run (jonrón or cuadrangular) and foul. All broadcasters say "foul" especially musically, as though it were ice hockey and a goal had just been scored. Likewise "Bayamón."

And the Spanish is flowery; a hit becomes an "unstoppable" or "uncatchable" (and then an "undiscussable"). A batter who hits into a doubleplay "returns to the bench on Route 643." And in Ponce, broadcasters never refer to the baseball; the thing the pitcher throws is la Wilson (because she is la pelota--but in Caguas, they call it el Wilson because he is el béisbol).

An interesting point is the use of the adaptable suffix -azo ("wicked big"), which is too slangy to be taught in high-school Spanish:

Regular	Emphasized
pelota baseball	pelotazo hit batter (especially bean ball)
or bola	or bolazo
bate bat	batazo line drive, base hit
	bambinazo another term for home run

Reading a Schedule

As in the US, the team listed second, or on the bottom, is the home team. The Spanish word en ("in"), means "at" in this context; so a game Carolina en Caguas is at Caguas. Game time is denoted as in the US, and use of military time is rare. Times are P.M. except that Bayamón plays an annual 11:00 (A.M.) game--"Students' Day" with free admission for schoolchildren.

Language and Culture

A ballpark is a good place to find people who study or visit the mainland. As anywhere, a baseball game affords a thousand excuses to talk to strangers or even teach their children, and you will find people who want to speak English. It was impressive to see how many people all over the island speak English, how good their English is, and how readily they use it once they see you aren't a native Spanish speaker. So the only time you'll really be lost is during an argument or odd umpire's call, and that happens in the US as well. You can find an explanation or have fun trying.

There is no anti-American sentiment despite the statehood/independence debate, and difficulty with Spanish does not necessarily mark you as a mainlander. It is clear that people size you up and choose the language with which to first attempt conversation based on race. A talk-show host noted that dark-skinned "New Ricans," especially children whose parents have brought them back to their ancestral home, face intense social pressure to speak perfect Spanish including island slang, but a white person who makes an honest effort in Spanish is doted on in English. Good parents realize that a second language, especially English these days, is worth money to their kids. The other parents cling to their culture and then lament the way prosperity has conspired to pass them by, or demand reparations. For recent comments along these lines, see my 2001 remarks on separatism.

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