Between the 26 finalists for the Latin Baseball Hall of Fame there are three Cubans who have the opportunity to be enshrined, the are Rafael Palmeiro, Liván Hernández and José Canseco.
The voting will take place between September 2nd to the 4th and of those 26 a mere five will make the final cut. The induction ceremony will take place at the end of the year in the Dominican Republic. Yours truly will be voting and has already submitted his, which will be revealed at the end of this article.
Rafael Palmeiro is probably the most complete hitter to come out of the largest of the Antilles. In 20 big league seasons he slashed .288/.371/.515/.885 with 3020 hits, 569 longballs, 585 doubles and 1835 RBIs. The native of Havana also posted an OPS+ of 132 for his career.
Canseco was one of the prolific homerun hitters for Cubans. During his 17 campaigns in MLB he went yard 462 times and was selected to six All-Star Games. The outfielder was also the charter member of the 40/40 club (40 homeruns/ 40 stolen bases).
In Hernández’s case the crafty righty won 178 games during his time in the big show and was a two-time All-Star. The younger brother of Orlando “El Duque” Hernández was the 1997 NLCS and World Series MVP. The hurler also struck out 1,900 batters in his career.
🕵Solo pueden tomar a 5 peloteros para el Salón de la Fama del Béisbol latino entre los 26 nominados de este año.🕵
Este Salón de la Fama exalta a peloteros latinos trascendentes en sus carreras.⚾
Los reto a que me digan sus 5 candidatos. Vamos a ver si saben de pelota.😉 pic.twitter.com/7QEiEGEB0d
— José El Legionario (@Soylegionario) September 3, 2023
Finalists:
Dominican Republic:
Abrían Beltré 3B
David Ortiz DH-1B
Manny Ramirez OF
Edwin Encarnación OF-IF
Francisco Cordero RHP
José Reyes IF
Julio Franco IF
Alfonso Soriano IF
Miguel Tejada IF
Venezuela:
Francisco Rodríguez RHP
Félix Hernández RHP
Bobby Abreu OF
Johan Santana LHP
Magglio Ordóñez OF
Puerto Rico:
Javy López C
Carlos Beltrán OF
Sandy Alomar Jr. C
Rubén Sierra OF
Carlos Baerga IF
Cuba:
Liván Hernández RHP
Rafael Palmeiro DH-1B
José Canseco OF
Here are my votes:
Adrián Beltre 3B
Alfonso Soriano IF-OF
Carlos Beltran OF
Rafael Palmeiro DH-1B