Lino Rivera: Winning one for Awilda

By César Augusto Márquez

He is from Puerto Rico, manages the Dominican Republic winter league champion and is currently in Guadalajara, Mexico, for the 2018 Caribbean Series.

But Lino Rivera’s story doesn’t start with that sofrito of divergent facts.

Before Game 7 of the Dominican winter league finals last week, Rivera grabbed a magic marker and, on the back of the lineup card, scribbled a message — three heartfelt sentences that the skipper of the Águilas Cibaeñas (Cibao Eagles) hoped would soon bring a bit of closure to his soul.

It had nothing to do with the game. Rivera, who has played and managed all over the globe, wasn’t even thinking about his opponent, the Tigres del Licey, in the other dugout at Santo Domingo’s Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal. That team, also known as the Yanquis of the Dominican Republic, boasts 22 titles in its 111-year history.

Instead, this was personal. In a year in which Hurricane María devastated his home island of Puerto Rico, his father suffered a stroke and his marriage fell apart, for once Rivera was hoping that destiny would stop surprising him with pain and despair and instead reward him with joy and satisfaction.

“I needed to win a championship, this championship, more than I needed to win any of the other ones in my career,” Rivera admitted afterward, reflecting on the emotional roller-coaster of the past seven months.

Rivera thought back to July 5, when he was managing the Triple-A Piratas (Pirates) de Campeche in the Mexican League. The phone rang. It was his family calling from Puerto Rico to say that his older sister, Awilda, was going through a bad stretch with her pancreatic cancer. That night, after the Piratas lost their game, Rivera decided to resign and fly straight home.

“It was hard. My sister Awilda was sick with cancer. I felt like I had to be there to support her and help her, both emotionally and financially,” Rivera said last week from Guadalajara, in a telephone interview in Spanish with La Vida Baseball.

“The Pirates understood and supported my decision, because they knew what I was going through and what Awilda meant to me,” he added.

Rivera, 51, is the youngest of three children. The oldest is Iris María, followed by Awilda, two years older than Lino.

“We are a pretty united family,” Rivera said. “Awilda was the one with the strongest character. She would end any arguments between my other sister and me. We all played softball. And Awilda was the one who took me to baseball practice. She had such a strong character that her husband would tell her she was acting like a man.”

Upon his return to San Juan, Rivera organized benefit softball games and other events to raise money for Awilda’s treatments.

“I received the support of a lot of people, and we were able to do everything for her within our means,” Rivera said, pausing occasionally to regain his composure. “I also spent time with her. I knew that she needed me.”

Because their mother worked outside the home, Awilda always looked out for Lino, an effervescent talker who wears his heart on his sleeve.

“While she was a strong person, she was also a noble soul,” Rivera said. “She went through a lot. At one point in her life, she had problems with alcohol. But 12 years ago, she discovered the Lord and became a woman of faith. I also consider myself a man of faith and a believer in God.”

Pancreatic cancer is seldom detected in the early stages and typically spreads rapidly to other organs. Despite medical treatment and all of Rivera’s support, Awilda continued to deteriorate. When Rivera returned to the Dominican Republic at the end of September to manage the Águilas, he knew that the end was near.

“One of the last times that I saw her, she was in a coma,” Rivera said. “I took her hand and promised her that I would win the championship in the Dominican Republic. She moved, made some noises, and I felt like she squeezed my hand.”

On Oct. 21, as he was getting ready for a game against Gigantes (Giants) del Cibao, a second phone call from Puerto Rico shook Rivera’s life again. Awilda had passed away.

“You are never really prepared for those kinds of moments,” Rivera said. “But I couldn’t travel to Puerto Rico, and instead took comfort in the promise that I made to her when she was alive.”

Rivera was a career minor league pitcher who found his calling as a manager. But he has traveled a much more varied path than countrymen Álex Cora and Dave Martínez, who will debut this season as skippers with Boston and Washington, respectively. Those two embraced analytics and apprenticed as major league coaches.

Rivera instead played, coached and managed in Puerto Rico, the United States, Mexico, Canada and Taiwan, where he made the All-Star Game in 1998 as a starting pitcher.

And while Rivera never got a cup of coffee in the bigs, he clearly became a student of the game. He started managing in 2004 at age 37 with the Triple-A Acereros (Steelers) de Monclova in the Mexican League.

It took him only two years to win his first title. He piloted the Gigantes de Carolina to Puerto Rico’s Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League championship pennant in 2006. That summer, he won another championship with the Triple-A Leones (Lions) de Yucatán in the Mexican League. And then, back in Puerto Rico, he repeated with the Gigantes, and took them to second place in the 2007 Caribbean Series.

That’s three championships in the span of 16 months. In fact, over six winters in Puerto Rico, Rivera went to six straight finals, winning three titles and earning three Manager of the Year awards.

Rivera went on to pilot the Tigres del Licey, leaving the team when it fired general manager Manny Acta, a former major league pitcher who is a close friend and mentor. Acta is one of 19 Latino managers in MLB history, having skippered the Washington Nationals and Cleveland Indians. He also managed the Dominican Republic in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He’s currently the Seattle Mariners’ bench coach.

And when Acta moved on as GM of the Águilas, he reached out to Rivera, who accepted the offer to manage, despite his sister’s condition.

“I owe Manny a lot,” Rivera said. “And because of my loyalty to him, I decided to accept his offer.”

“We’ve got a good friendship off the field,” Acta said last week in a radio interview on Puerto Rico’s public radio station, WIPR-AM. “He’s gained my trust because he has the track record.”

And that’s how — in a series interrupted three straight days by torrential rains and shortened from a best-of-nine to a best-of-seven — Rivera found himself facing his former team in the deciding game of the finals.

His mind was churning, but he was not thinking about revenge. This was personal. He was thinking about his sister. About his dad. About his family, and the many who remain unemployed after María.

And when the Águilas recorded the final out in an 11-5 victory, Rivera was the first to jump on the field, taking the lineup card with him. When he could, he flashed the card for all to see:

“Awilda, this one is for you. I will always love you. I can finally let you rest in peace.”

“Emotionally, I needed this,” Rivera said. “Awilda’s hand was part of this championship. I prayed to her daily. While it would be nice to win the Caribbean Series, this championship in the Dominican Republic is for her.”

Promise fulfilled. The pain will surely linger, but Rivera can now refocus on his life. He’s been approached by a number of major league teams for coaching positions and has already rejected an offer to manage in the low minors. If he can keep his head and his team together amid such an emotional whirlwind, he can surely win almost anywhere. Awilda would tell you that.

Featured Image: Águilas Cibaeñas Instagram

Inset Image: Guineo Power on Twitter