Maria adds to players’ stress
Beltran, others find unity as they help island after storm.
NEW YORK — When the Astros owner offered Carlos Beltran charter aircrafts to send relief aid to Puerto Rico and evacuate cancer patients from the island after Hurricane Maria, the Puerto Rican slugger quickly thought about “the chat group.”
He wanted to send word to other Puerto Rican teammates and coaches with the Astros, as well as friends from other teams, that one of the airplanes was available to pick up family members who couldn’t return to the mainland because of the lack of commercial flights.
The “chat” Beltran was referring to was the WhatsApp group that All-Star Yadier Molina created just before of this year’s World Baseball Classic.
Six months after finishing as runner-up for the second straight time in the international tournament, the friendships and bonds among the Puerto Rican players have strengthened, especially after the storm that hit Puerto Rico on Sep. 20 and left much of the island without electricity and running water.
“We keep in touch all the time, always encouraging each other,” Beltran said. “This has been a special year, because many of them have had great seasons, but also we’ve been united by this tragedy.”
The situation in Puerto Rico, where at least 49 people were killed by the storm and thousands lost their homes, has been on the mind of all the players during the playoffs, where Beltran’s Astros faced the Yankees on Saturday night in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.
“With what’s going in on in the island, we’re closer than ever,” said Javier Baez, the Cubs second baseman whose team was eliminated by the Dodgers. “We never stopped chatting after the WBC. Many of us are good friends, like brothers. We send messages and help each other out.”
That’s what Beltran did after the hurricane, starting a crowd-funding campaign that raised $1.3 million to send 300,000 pounds of supplies to Puerto Rico. But he needed transportation to get the aid there, and Astros owner Jim Crane offered the planes.
“His generosity has no bounds,” Beltran said.
The 40-year-old designated hitter brought his parents to Houston, where they stayed with him until last week. The aftermath was so dire that he had to wait five days after the storm to finally hear from them.
During the past month, Beltran has been focusing on helping his homeland and playing the postseason with the Astros. That’s also the case with other players such as his teammate Carlos Correa and Enrique Hernandez of the Dodgers.
“My body’s here, but my mind’s kind of back home. It’s hard being away from home with what’s going on,” Hernandez said.
Correa’s family didn’t want to leave Puerto Rico, so the Astros shortstop sent them generators for their home and supplies for his hometown of Santa Isabel in the southern coast of the island.
Beltran displayed a Puerto Rican flag during introductions in New York before Game 3 of the ALCS.
“I wanted to express my support and show that we’re dealing with a very difficult situation in the country,” he said.