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I just had a recent conversation with my dad because

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I knew the entire time my dad being Tony Perez

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Hall of Famer class of 2000. I thought it

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was really cool that he always said that the player

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that he looked up to growing up was Minnie Minoso

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. To me. Many, many also meant so

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much more and transcended so much more in an era

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where there was, uh, where the technology was

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nil. Still kids listened and wanted to know what

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Minnie Minoso did the night before. And because of

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it, I am who I am because my father

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aspired to be like Minnie Minoso. So there is

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a direct uh, connection there. You can never

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reduce many Minoso's career to just baseball. Minnie Minoso

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was the Latino Jackie Robinson. No hands down.

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And what he did obviously in this game is no

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worthy and certainly justifies Hall of Fame merit. But

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what he meant for legions of latino ballplayers, uh

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, to know that they too could have the dream

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of playing in the major league, cannot be understated

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