ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals unveiled a new exhibit celebrating the Hispanic and Latin players who've worn the birds on the bat. It also celebrates the voices who call Cardinals games in Spanish.
The new exhibit, Viva Los Cardenales, takes you from the present day all the way back to 1913 detailing the Latin and Hispanic players who paved the way for the next generation.
“Baseball has no language," Cardinals Spanish Broadcaster Polo Ascencio said. "There's a saying that I borrowed from Manny Mota, a great Dominican ballplayer. He said, ‘Polo baseball is so weird. The baseball is round and comes in a square box. Think about that. And that makes no sense.’ Exactly, baseball makes no sense."
But Ascencio tries to make it make sense as one of the many voices of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was the first to call the Birds' game play-by-play in Spanish, spicing it up with what he calls "Polo-isms."
“'La crema se le salio del taco,' which means the cream came off the taco or the meat came off the taco,” Ascencio said. So what’s that mean in the game? The ball dropped.
Ascencio calls the games with broadcast partner Bengie Molina on seven different radio stations.
His story is one of many represented in the Viva Los Cardenales exhibit in the Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum where the exhibits are printed in Spanish and English.
“It’s important for me when people come into the museum that they can see themselves,” Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum Curator Amy Berra said.
Berra said it was all to inspire fans and make them feel represented in a game that’s for everyone by telling stories for every generation.
“I think telling the stories of the first guys, Luis Arroyo, Memo Luna, Julian Javier, Miguel Gonzalez. These are the guys who were the first, and they haven't really been recognized before,” Berra said.
Ascencio, himself, even contributed a jersey from his baseball idol, Fernando Valenzuela.
“I took it back to LA, where he works for the Dodgers, and I asked him to sign it. So he signed it for me on the front and back,” Ascencio said.
He said the whole exhibit reaches beyond the baseball diamond.
“This is more than baseball. It's about getting people together. I always say, “Porque en Espanol, el beisbol sentirlo mucho mejor.' Because in Spanish baseball, you can feel it a lot better,” Ascencio said.
Fans can see the new exhibit any time this season. Find it on the second floor of Cardinals Nation in Ballpark Village.
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