El veintidós de enero/January 22nd

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Carlos Ruiz! (Carlos Joaquín "Chooch" Ruiz) (1979-          )

As a lifelong Phillies fan who was teaching in a Philadelphia school when the Phillies won the 2008 World Series with Chooch, I have to say, this one's personal! We all love Chooch (an he loves us back! See this billboard he bought to tell us so in 2016). 

Photo from philly.com. Click HERE. 

Carlos Ruiz is a professional baseball player from Panama who played with the Phillies for 11 seasons (he also played for the L.A. Dodgers and Seattle Mariners). A catcher called the "heart and the soul" of the team when they won the World Series in 2008 (see his Game Three game-winning hit in this fan video, HERE), Ruiz won teammates and fans over with his humility and humor -- not to mention hard work. His nickname, Chooch, is actually a variation of the F-bomb in Panama that Ruiz used to mutter under his breath when unhappy with his performance. This was in 2004, when Ruiz was still struggling to make it to the major leagues. He had promised his mother -- and his father's spirit -- that he would do so after his father died suddenly when Ruiz was seven (his father, a police officer, had been on his way home from a shift when his jeep flipped over and crushed him). Each year, heading back to the United States after the off-season, Ruiz stops at the place on the highway where a cross marks his father's death, and talks: I don't want to bother you, Father, but I am going to America and I am keeping my promise to you to help our family. God help me this season. I will continue to do my part. Thank you for being my father. (As reported in Gary Smith's Sports Illustrated profile in 2011, HERE. Recommended reading!). When Ruiz was 19, though, and at training camp in the Dominican Republic, he thought that dream had come to an end (he was too small, too uncoordinated), and he called his mom to tell her so. His uncle (his mom's brother) got on the phone instead and talked him out of leaving, saying, "You cannot. This is your dream." Ruiz spent nine seasons in the minor leagues before finally permanently joining the Phillies major league roster in 2007. He went on to become one of Philadelphia's most beloved players (see highlight video, including the end of the perfect game pitched to him by Roy Halladay (1977-2017), HERE). Ruiz is also loved in his hometown of Boquerón, Panama (click HERE to see him honored at a festival in 2013 (Spanish) and HERE to read about how his intervention helped save the lives of three friends lost at sea in 2014 (English).

For a video in Spanish about him being named Player of the Week in 2014 (Beisbolista panameño Carlos Ruiz declarado el mejor de la semana en MLB), click HERE.

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Richard Camacho. Photo from Instagram.

Other January 22nd birthdays:

Richard Camacho (1997-    ). Member of the band CNCO, which was formed in 2015 on the show La Banda (with co-producer Simon Cowell). He is from the Dominican Republic. Click HERE to read more about CNCO (more than a billion views on their YouTube video Reggaeton Lento!).

Ricky Garcia (1999-         ). Member of the band Forever in Your Mind, which was formed in 2013 on the show X Factor (with judge Simon Cowell). He was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Texas.

Alfredo Palacio (1939-       ). Cardiologist from Ecuador who served as President of Ecuador from 2005-2007.