World Series Hero Returns To Bogota
The Post
Friday, October 31, 1997
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Edgar Renteria returned to a foot-stomping, salsa-blaring welcome in his hometown Thursday, already a star four days after his 11th-inning single lifted the Florida Marlins to the World Series title.
The National League Champs defeated the Cleveland Indians, four games-to-three.
Neighbors hung posters of the 22-year-old shortstop in the Montecristo barrio of Barranquilla, 450 miles north of Bogota. Residents said they were preparing for a long party.
''It's total craziness here. Thousands of people are in the streets despite the intense heat,'' said Hugo Penso, news editor of Barranquilla's El Heraldo newspaper.
''There is music, dancing, and singing. The party is going to go on all night.''
Renteria arrived on a plane owned by Colombian businessman Carlos Ardila Lulle after appearing at a victory parade in Miami, Tuesday, and on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Colombian news programs showed people sweeping the streets and hanging lights and banners to welcome Barranquilla's favorite son.
The mayor, Edgar George, declared Thursday a day of homage to the young star - the second this week.
Thousands lined the streets to watch his motorcade travel from the airport to his house. Flowers, music, and banners, as well as plenty of rum and beer, were plentiful in the carnival atmosphere.
Renteria's father died when he was young and his mother, Visitacion, had to raise him and his seven siblings alone. As a child, Renteria wanted to be a star soccer player, just like almost every young boy in this soccer-crazed South American nation.
But his World Series heroics are responsible for a surge in popularity of baseball, which is played in cities on the Caribbean coast but largely ignored everywhere else.
All over the country, kids who can't find or afford baseball bats are picking up broomsticks and hitting around what balls they can find.
''After the World Series, the whole country is going to be more interested in baseball, even the highlanders,'' Penso said.
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