Red Sox have devoted fan in Caguas mayor
By Adrian Burgos
Plenty of people from Álex Cora’s hometown of Caguas, Puerto Rico, will be watching when the Red Sox hold their championship ring ceremony at Fenway Park on April 9. Caguas residents take great pride in Cora’s accomplishment as a native son who became the first Puerto Rican manager to lead a team to a World Series title.
Caguas mayor William Miranda Torres is one Caguas resident in particular professes a special rooting interest in Cora’s continued success as Red Sox manager. If there was someone primed to defeat Miranda in a mayoral election, it would be Cora.
“He was popular, but now (Cora) is at another level. So well that I can say that I have to ask him not to run for mayor, because I could be in a problem. … Álex please don’t challenge me for mayor,” Miranda playfully told Caguas’ favorite son during La Vida Baseball’s visit to Caguas this December.
In the Name of the Father
Bearing the Miranda family name these days might prove little competition to Cora’s popularity among Caguas residents. Cora is not simply admired for what he accomplished with the Red Sox but also in what he did for his hometown after Hurricane Maria.
Cora has a revered lineage in Caguas. His father José Manuel Cora was a leading organizer of youth baseball in Caguas. He also worked as a sportswriter and broadcaster covering the Caguas Criollos, a storied franchise in the Puerto Rican Winter League.
Cora becoming the first Puerto Rican to manage a World Series champion has further elevated the family name in Caguas.
Like Cora, the current mayor of Caguas also carries a distinct family name. Miranda is the son of William Miranda Marin, his predecessor as Caguas mayor from 1997 to 2010. His father’s legacy is apparent to all who visit the city’s mayoral building, which is named the William Miranda Marin Building.
Visiting Puerto Rico’s Heartland
Caguas’ mayor welcomed La Vida Baseball to his office this past December. Miranda had a ready smile and plenty of stories about what baseball and the Cora family has meant to the recovery in Caguas in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
The La Vida team was treated with Puerto Rican hospitality by those we encountered in the city of 130,000. The mayor’s team extended VIP treatment. A police escort was also provided, making it easier to travel across the city, which spans 59 square miles as we visited Estadio Yldefonso Solá Morales and other areas devastated by Hurricane Maria.
Asked about the impact of Hurricane Maria on his city, the mayor took us to a large balcony located on the same floor as his office. The view is spectacular as one can see across the valley and to the city’s surrounding mountains. Looking out from the balcony that December morning it was easy to gain an appreciation for Caguas’ beauty. The green vegetation has appeared once again across much of the valley and along the mountainsides.
Emotions were still raw for the mayor of Puerto Rico’s fifth largest city. Caguas was the largest city to take a direct hit when the hurricane made landfall on Sept. 20, 2017. The city received nearly 38 inches of rain along with the powerful winds.
“Hurricane Maria hit our island so hard,” Miranda said. “Starting from the east side of the island and passing through the center, hitting our city, so hard, devastating everything in its path. So, that day, and the day after, looking around to the damages, the terrible damages that Maria created, it was like when you see a movie and you see a bomb explode destroying everything.
“Having all those mountains without leaves or trees, and everything look brown was very hard to look at.”
Caguas Recovers
A year removed from Hurricane Maria, the mayor was focused on how to provide Caguas residents with as normal a Christmas celebration as possible. In Caguas, local traditions extend the Christmas celebration from November and into February. The celebration started even earlier for Caguas in 2018 with Cora and the Red Sox winning the World Series.
“We were blessed that one of the sons of our city, Álex Cora, won the World Series,” the mayor said. “And on that day looking to the camera he said he wanted to bring this trophy to Puerto Rico to my town Caguas.”
Baseball helped to heal Caguas, according to the mayor. It wasn’t just the Red Sox’s World Series triumph, but also the success of the Caguas Criollos. Although displaced from playing in their historic stadium (Solá Morales) nonetheless won the 2018 Puerto Rican Winter League crown and then the Caribbean World Series.
“Well, having our team winning the local series and then to go and play in la serie del Caribe and win again, that was something that helped us forget and heal a little bit,” Miranda informed us.
There was more work for baseball to do in helping Caguas recover.
After the Red Sox claimed the World Series title, Cora asked to bring the trophy to his hometown in Puerto Rico. Bringing the trophy to Caguas would prompt sheer joy and extreme stress for mayor Miranda, whose job it was to quickly plan the celebration.
“The opportunity to have that trophy here in our city … how can I say? It was awesome. When I touched that trophy it was like a vibration, a different feeling, something that I cannot explain. The people were like crazy. So, it has been a very important experience to help, to heal, and to forget, and has helped us to move forward to lots of other things,” Miranda declared.
A Fan of the Cora Family
The healing began well before the World Series trophy arrived to Caguas. Álex and his older brother Joey had done extensive work in ensuring supplies made it to those in need in Caguas. This led the mayor to declare that he was not just a baseball fan but a fan of the Cora family.
“Supplies were moving very slowly and we have had our frustrations because as big as the city is … everyone needs something. There were some that need little, but there are others that need more,” Miranda noted.
Frustrations mounted with the slow arrival of relief supplies coming through the formal channels of FEMA and Puerto Rico’s central government. This was where the Cora brothers demonstrated their dedication to their hometown. Joey Cora arranged for the Pittsburgh Pirates to bring relief supplies that enabled the Caguas government to serve 7,000 people. Then, Álex Cora showed his commitment to aiding his people in his insistence that the Red Sox bring a plane loaded with relief supplies as part of his becoming the team manager.
Miranda, like many others, learned that Cora was among the lowest paid managers in MLB. He also knew that instead of demanding a higher salary, Cora insisted on helping bring relief to Caguas. This is why Miranda declared: “Álex Cora means hope for Caguas. He has brought us hope. … I got to say to Álex thanks for all that has been done for Caguas.”
So as the Red Sox hold their ring celebration, Miranda will revel once more in Cora’s success as a manager, and hope that baseball and not electoral politics will continue to be where Cora focuses his energy and goodwill.
