The Colombian Kid
Marlins' teen phenom brings good news to besieged nation
The Houston Chronicle
May 26, 1996
MIAMI - In Colombia, where scandal and violence generate gloom, a 19-year-old shortstop for the Florida Marlins has given his countrymen reason to cheer.
Edgar Renteria, the youngest player in the majors by more than a year, is also just the fourth Colombian to reach the big leagues.
""Everybody is crazy about it,'' Renteria says with a smile.
""It's incredible,'' agrees Manuel Martinez, a Colombian who works for a Miami radio station. ""When the Marlins games are televised there now, the streets are empty. ''
The Marlins recalled Renteria from Class AAA Charlotte on May 9. This week, in an unexpected move, they sent third-year starter Kurt Abbott to the minors and named Renteria their regular shortstop.
In the next game, the Colombian kid went 3-for-3. Going into the weekend, he was batting .333 with three doubles and had yet to commit an error.
""He's going to be a successful major leaguer for a long time,'' vice president of player personnel Gary Hughes says.
South American shortstops are hardly unusual - Venezuela produced Omar Vizquel, Dave Concepcion and Luis Aparicio. But Renteria is the first big-leaguer from Colombia since Jackie Gutierrez, an infielder with Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia from 1983 to 1988.
Baseball is played in only seven of Colombia's 24 states, mostly along the coast, and even there it's a distant second to soccer in popularity. Nonetheless, Renteria's promotion to the majors made front-page news. Cocaine cartels, rebel massacres and allegations of government corruption were temporarily forgotten.
Reporters and TV crews from Colombia immediately began showing up at Joe Robbie Stadium. Ana Maria Jaramillo, a reporter for El Tiempo in Bogota, was dispatched to her first baseball game Friday.
""So many negative things are going on in Colombia, a positive thing like this is very big,'' she says.
""He's gotten better every step he's gone up, which is really unusual,'' Hughes says.
Defensively, Renteria has excellent hands, good range and a good arm. He's smooth and steady rather than spectacular.
""I thought he could play defense in the big leagues two years ago,'' Hughes says.
Renteria was apparently 17 then, although there's confusion about his age. The Marlins and Major League Baseball list his birth date as Aug. 7, 1975, and Renteria says he's now 20. But his mother, one of his sisters and at least two Marlins officials told the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale that Renteria was born a year later - Aug. 7, 1976.
A possible reason for the discrepancy: Signing Renteria in February 1992 would have violated baseball rules if he were only 15 then. In any case, he's the youngest player in the majors and the youngest Marlins player in their four-year history.
He's also the youngest of eight children. Renteria grew up in the coastal city of Barranquilla, where baseball is played year-round, and he decided at age 13 to concentrate on that sport rather than soccer. He was inspired by his brother Edison, who spent seven years in the minor leagues and is now a minor-league instructor for the Braves.
Although labeled a can't-miss prospect, Edison never made it past Class AAA. Edgar's goal was always one step further.
""I wanted to be the fourth Colombian in the majors,'' he says.
Renteria made it. A nation applauds him.
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