Olympics, Baseball: Alvarez silver with the USA, after the one on ice

The baseball gold medal, like the softball one, was won by Japan. Both in the final against the United States. Equally Eddy Alvarez is in the history of the Olympics. Because he had already won a medal at the Olympics, but at the winter ones, in Sochi, in the short-track relay.

Free

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That could have been the high point of his career, but for Eddy it was the moment when he finally felt free. Not to take a breath, or from the nightmare of pressure. The silver medal taken at the Sochi Olympics did not make him feel lighter and more serene to continue his career. Nor did it give him the strength to give up the sport. They say that on the evening of the party, seven and a half years ago in Russia, he said: “Now I can really try, now I know I can play baseball.”

Tenacity and indecision

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This is a story of tenacity and indecision, from which one can even arrive at a moral. One can draw the conclusion that, when we are really undecided between two things we would like to do, the best thing could be both. “Really – Eddy said at the time – I never knew how to choose between short track and baseball. I knew I should have done it, that I should have taken one and practiced that. But I never really succeeded”.

Seven years ago

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Eddy Alvarez in 2014 in Sochi took silver in the 5000 meter short track relay. For someone born in Miami, son of Walter and Mabel, Cuban immigrants, let’s say it was a nice performance of versatility. For the sake of completeness, let’s say his relay mates were JR Celski, Chris Creveling and Jordan Malone. And let’s add that, much more in keeping with latitude and origins, as a kid he always played baseball. “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” he would say years later. “My passion. My first love”. His older brother, Nick, for instance, is a guy who spent seven years in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system.

Short icy track

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But since his time at school, Eddy has also had a crush on the short ice rink, known at the Kendall Ice Arena, 40 minutes from home. In junior high, his life was more short track than baseball. In high school the opposite. And then another turnaround. So in 2008 he turned down an early college baseball scholarship and moved to Salt Lake City, where he worked to join the Olympic team for Vancouver 2010. Failing that.

Both ways

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And that’s when the great teaching of Eddy and his story came out: if you were undecided between two things to do, you chose one and you couldn’t get out what you wanted, then go back and start over with all of them. and two. At least he did so: he proposed for a try-out at Salt Lake City Community College, where they immediately hired him as a starting shortstop. There, then, the typical day has become: short track training at dawn, lessons at the university, baseball training in the afternoon, and even evening classes. And maybe it’s all that work that caused, or accentuated, her knee problems.

Which he solved with a practically unique operation, in the sense that in order not to waste time, in March 2012, he decided to have both knees operated at the same time, with the result of having to stay two months in bed. “I had to piss in that damn jar.” But in the summer he started working hard again, and in 2014 he was on the track in Sochi. Where in the sprint of the final the United States lost the gold, which went to Russia. But it’s not that Eddy cared that much: his mission was accomplished. “Now I’m free, now I can try baseball.”

Another goal

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A little over a month later he abandoned the short track. And back in Miami, he worked a little with a private technician, he applied for some try-outs around. And in June they called it the Chicago White Sox. Who after four seasons in 2019 sold him to the Florida Marlins. That is the team of his city. Even if we always talk about the Farm System. That is their teams in the Minors. But 2020 was a strange year. The Minors did not play, the MLB teams had enlarged rosters, to cope with any coronavirus emergencies. That the Marlins have had, dramatic. Nineteen people, including players and staff, tested positive at Covid at the same time. Matches postponed.

The team to be rebuilt and put back on the field. So Eddy got the call that every player in the Minors expects and that many never get. From Jupiter, home of the Marlins’ spring training, it was an hour and a half away. And he passed by Walter and Mabel, his parents. Their home which was also his is five blocks from the Marlins stadium. He rang the doorbell and talked to Mom and Dad while keeping his distance. “Mom, Dad, I’m going”. “Going where?”. “At the stadium. The call has come, it’s the day.” Eddy Alvarez, second baseman, in 2020 at 30, exactly one year ago made his MLB debut. Where this year has not found a place. He is in Triple A with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. From there they called him to the national team. And now it has found a place, a place in the history of the Olympics. He is the sixth athlete to have won a medal at both the Summer Games and the Winter Games.

The other five

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The others are Lauryn WILLIAMS, US, track and field and bobsleigh.

Clara HUGHES, Canada, road cycling and speed skating.

Christa LUDING-ROTHENBURGER, Germany, speed skating and track cycling.

Jacob Tullin THAMS, Norway, ski jumping and sailing.

Eddie EAGAN, United States, box and bob