San Francisco Giants pitcher Geno Espineli is reportedly the first full-blooded Filipino to play Major League Baseball and I read today (see very end of story) that teammate Tim Lincecum’s mother is Filipina.
Espineli’s parents are immigrants and he and his siblings were born and raised in Houston. He’s a relief pitcher for the Giants who was just called up from the minors.
Lincecum, a starting pitcher, was recently featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and is one of the rising stars for the Giants.
There have been a number of Big League players who’ve been part Filipino. Benny Agbayani is a recent one who comes to mind.
It’s great to see more Asians and Asian Americans in the majors, though the players from Asia still outnumber those from the United States. I’ve always been curious about this and have never come up with a reason why there wouldn’t be more Asian Americans baseball players.
This post is also published on Hyphen magazine’s blog.