Cora, Roberts breaking barriers in World Series leadership

BOSTON – History will be made Tuesday night at Fenway Park when Álex Cora’s Red Sox face Dave Roberts’ Dodgers in the World Series, marking the first time two non-white managers meet in the Fall Classic.

Inspired by the two managers in the World Series, the Dodgers’ Enrique “Kiké” Hernández polled his teammates recently. He asked how many of them hoped to coach and perhaps even manage in the big leagues.

If the Red Sox and Dodgers’ players are any indication, it’s quite uplifting to know that Major League Baseball has progressed enough in terms of minority hiring that the Cora-Roberts angle at the World Series is more interesting to the players because they were former teammates.

Roberts and Cora were teammates on both the Dodgers and Red Sox, the teams they now manage in this World Series.

Roberts earned his place in Red Sox lore with a crucial steal in Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series.

Cora’s Boston contributions were more modest until the first Puerto Rican to manage a team in the World Series guided the Red Sox to a franchise record 108 regular season victories this year.

“I thought about it a lot in different ways, [but] never thought about it that way in terms of race and stuff,” Hernández said of Cora and Roberts leading teams against each other in the World Series. “But it’s crazy. We were talking the other day in the hotel. I was asking my teammates how many of them wanted to coach in the future.”

“I was like, ‘Whoever wants to coach just look at each other.’ These guys played together on two teams. These guys were teammates on two different teams, and now they get to face each other as opposing managers. That’s something that is really, really cool. It adds on to how special this World Series is going to be.”

Progressing Organizations

The 2018 World Series has two of the most storied franchises in baseball, a rematch of the 1916 Fall Classic that the Red Sox won—four games to one—against the Brooklyn Robins, who were eventually renamed the Dodgers.

The franchises have combined for 33 World Series appearances. The six-time champion Dodgers are making their 20th appearance overall and second in row in the Fall Classic.

Now, the franchise that broke baseball’s color barrier when Jackie Robinson made his debut on April 15, 1947, will be led by a black manager—Roberts was born to an African-American father and a Japanese mother—against the last franchise in baseball to play an African-American.

In some circles, the Red Sox still carry the stain of waiting 12 years after Robinson’s debut to integrate. Yet the organization is now led by the first Puerto Rican to reach the World Series and the first Latino manager to appear in the Fall Classic in his debut season.

Cora’s historic run this season has brought joy to an island still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which ravaged the island 13 months ago.

“I’m proud representing not only all the Puerto Ricans that live in the island, but Puerto Ricans all around the world,” Cora said. “We know what happened last year. It was a tough one. And Maria kicked our ass, you know. As a country, we’ve done an outstanding job fighting.

“We’re standing up on our own two feet. I know there’s a lot of people back home [who are] proud of me, of what I’ve done throughout the year. But I’m proud of them. We actually, it’s almost back to normal. Almost back to normal.”

Cora has appreciated the feedback he has received during the playoffs from his fellow boricuas who have enjoyed watching Puerto Ricans excel with every playoff entrant this postseason.

“I’m very happy that whenever the Red Sox win and when Christian (Vázquez) plays great or Enrique (Hernández of the Dodgers) plays great or Carlos (Correa) and Francisco (Lindor), there’s something that they have for them to enjoy,” Cora said. “And if Álex is a part of that, so be it, you know?

“It should be fun the next week, week and a half, whatever it is. And looking forward to getting back home after the World Series.”

Leading Boston

Roberts remains a beloved figure in Boston for his pivotal role for the 2004 Red Sox who ended the Curse of the Bambino. Down 4-3 in the ninth inning and in danger of being swept by the Yankees in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, he stole second. He then sprinted in from second on Bill Mueller’s hard grounder up the middle to tie the score at 4.

The legend of David Ortiz blossomed three innings later when Big Papi hit a walk-off home run to stave off elimination and begin the eight-game winning streak that was capped when the Red Sox beat the Cardinals for their first World Series title since 1918.

“I’ve got nothing but great memories, even flying into Logan and just this time of year, this city, the leaves changing,” Roberts said. “And then you drive up to Fenway Park and it all just kind of comes back to you, 2004. And the teammates I had, the coaches, and that energy that only Fenway Park has.

“So to kind of recount that and you take it on the other level of Álex and I were former teammates and very good friends, and competing with each other, against each other, and to kind of see our different paths and where we’ve come, it’s really exceeded all of our dreams.”

Dreams coming true

The postseason is a time to dream. It’s a time when the players and their managers dream while their fans fill their minds with high hopes of October glory.

Little kids close their eyes and imagine driving the game-winning shot over the Green Monster at Fenway Park or over the wall at Dodger Stadium.

In Roberts and Cora, Latinos, African-Americans and the rest of America are reminded that it’s no longer outlandish to also dream about managing a team to a World Series title. Ozzie Guillén broke that barrier in 2005 with the White Sox over the Dodgers.

Cora broke another barrier when he became the first Latino rookie manager and first Puerto Rican to lead his team to a World Series appearance. More impressively, however, the history Cora and Roberts are making as the first minority managers to duel in a Fall Classic isn’t a central theme in a Fall Classic full of storylines.

“Obviously, I feel like we live in the day and age when everybody is equal,” Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez said. “Equal opportunity and everything like that. To me it’s great and cool.”

It’s naive to assume that everybody is treated equally in society. But in MLB, at least, progress is evident when Hernandez and all players can see the two managers in the World Series and wonder if they’ll follow one day.

Featured Image: Billie Weiss / Boston Red Sox

Inset Image: Lucy Nicholson / AFP