The Tampa Bay Rays became the first team in Major League Baseball history to have Latin Americans in all nine spots in the batting order on Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
The lineup came on Roberto Clemente Day as baseball honoured the Puerto Rican legend. Clemente was killed in a plane crash 50 years ago.
The Rays' lineup featured three players from the Domincan Republic (Wander Franco, Manuel Margot, Jose Siri), two each from Cuba (Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena) and Venezuela (David Peralta and Rene Pinto) and one each from Colombia (Harold Ramirez) and Mexico (Isaac Paredes).
Later Thursday, all players and coaches will wear Clemente's No. 21 during the Pittsburgh Pirates-New York Mets game. Clemente played 18 years with the Pirates.
Each club also has a nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, presented annually to the MLB player who best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.
Brandon Lowe is Tampa's nominee while Bo Bichette got the nod for Toronto.
