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Nicaraguan pitcher captivates nation
I’m down in Nicaragua covering next month’s presidential election, so I figure that politics will be dominating the headlines. So, what’s the top story in this morning’s papers? The five-inning, rain-shortened no-hitter tossed by Boston Red Sox rookie Devern Hansack.
His performance brought screaming headlines and front-page pictures to Managua’s largest dailies, which complemented their coverage with features on Hansack’s family. Hansack is from a fascinating part of this baseball-mad country called the Autonomous Region of the South Atlantic, a largely empty, starkly beautiful area on the Caribbean coast.
The area is made up of a mix of descendants of African slaves and Miskito Indians, and English is the lingua franca along much of the coast. The region is highly inaccessible, except by boat and plane, and for many years was largely beyond the reach of the central government in Managua.
Part of the reason Hansack’s feat is a big story here is that it came out of nowhere – two weeks ago 28-year-old Hansack was playing double-a ball. But Nicaragua, where baseball is more popular than soccer, has also been starved for a big-time Major League Baseball star for years. It’s been awhile since favorite son Dennis Martinez dominated for the Expos, and current Nicaraguan star Vicente Padilla is not among baseball’s elite.
If Sunday’s outing wasn’t an aberration, Hansack could be the next big Nicaraguan star. And as a Boston Red Sox fan, for whom this season has been one giant disaster, I certainly hope so.
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