Famous Latinx Birthdays

Photo from wikipedia.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Pedro Sandoval! (1986-         ) A professional baseball player from Venezuela who first signed with the San Francisco Giants in 2002 and then debuted with them in 2008 after working his way through the minor leagues, Sandoval is a two-time All Star who has won three World Series with the Giants. In Game 1 of the 2012 series, he hit three home runs (he would go on to win MVP of the series). He has also played for the Boston Red Sox. Sandoval grew up in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela with his parents and older brother Michael, who also played professional baseball. Though born left-handed, he taught himself to throw righty so that he could play shortstop like his favorite player, Omar Vizquel. In the offseason, like many other Venezuelan players, he plays for the Navegantes del Magallanes . Sandoval has one daughter, Yoleadny, born in 2009. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Wilmer Flores! (1991-     ) Photo from espn.com. Click HERE .  A professional baseball player from Venezuela, Flores signed with the New York Mets as an international free agent on his 16th  birthday in 2007. He was sent back to Class A in 2011 to be converted from a shortstop to a third baseman, and he moved back up, on his birthday once again, in 2013. He helped the Mets reach the World Series in 2015. Flores has spoken about his worry for his home-country of Venezuela, where his family still lives, and his hope for peace there. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo/Image from scholastic.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Ellen Ochoa! (1958) An engineer and veteran astronaut who is currently the director of The Johnson Space Center, Ochoa is the first Hispanic women to have gone to space (with the space shuttle Discovery in 1993) and the first Hispanic director of The Johnson Space Center. Ochoa's paternal grandparents were immigrants from Mexico who came to the United States to provide their family with more opportunities. Of them, Ochoa has said that she could only imagine the astonishment and pride they would feel upon knowing that their granddaughter had travelled to space, as they had been born in Mexico in the 1870s and had come to this country to lift up their family ("Sólo puedo imaginar el asombro y el orgullo de mis abuelos, quienes nacieron en México en la década de 1870, hubieran sentido al saber que su nieta creció para viajar al espacio. Vinieron a Estados Unidos para levantar a su familia. Junto a la pas...