Molina Read online

  Thanks to Jamie’s parents, Jennifer and Wayne Weimer, and her sister, Wendy Weimer, for offering feedback on an early version of the manuscript. Thanks also to my cousin Jennifer Cruz for her help in holding down the fort while Jamie and I worked on this project.

  Finally, a huge thank-you to the coaches and teammates who have been my teachers and brothers throughout my career.

  —Bengie Molina

  I am grateful to Bengie, Jamie, and the entire Molina family for allowing me to step into their lives and help tell Benjamín’s powerful story. So many people not only shared their memories during my visits to Puerto Rico but drove me around Dorado and fed me at their kitchen tables.

  Several books helped with background on baseball and culture in Puerto Rico: Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero by David Maraniss (Simon & Schuster, 2006); Puerto Rico’s Winter League: A History of Major League Baseball’s Launching Pad by Thomas E. Van Hyning (McFarland & Company, 1995); and Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898 by César J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabe (University of North Carolina Press, 2007).

  I am indebted to translator Elsie Parra for her patience and professionalism.

  Thanks also to my editor, Jofie Ferrari-Adler; my agent, Betsy Lerner; and to those who helped me brainstorm and read early drafts: Barry Tompkins, Erin Becker, Rob Becker, Lorna Stevens, Gary Pomerantz, and Ken Conner.

  —Joan Ryan

  BENJAMIN JOSÉ “BENGIE” MOLINA is a former Major League Baseball catcher who has played for the Anaheim Angels, the Toronto Blue Jays, the San Francisco Giants, and the Texas Rangers. His brothers, Yadier and José, are also Major League catchers. Bengie holds two World Championship rings and two Gold Glove Awards. He lives with his family in Arizona.

  © DEVON FOX

  JOAN RYAN is an award-winning journalist and author whose work has earned her thirteen Associated Press Sports Editors awards, the National Headliner Award, and the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Journalism Award. Her book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes was named one of the Top 100 Sports Books of All Time by Sports Illustrated and one of the Top 50 Sports Books by the Guardian. Joan now works as a media consultant to the San Francisco Giants.

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  First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition May 2015

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  Interior design by Ruth Lee-Mui

  Jacket design by Steve Attardo

  Jacket photographs courtesy of the author; José Molina © AP Photo/Mark Duncan; Bengie Molina and Yadier Molina © AP Photo/Gene Puskar

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Molina, Bengie, 1974–

  Molina : the story of the father who raised an unlikely baseball dynasty / Bengie Molina with Joan Ryan.

  pages cm

  1. Molina, Benjamin. 2. Fathers—Puerto Rico. 3. Fathers and sons. 4. Molina, Bengie, 1974– 5. Baseball—Puerto Rico.

  I. Ryan, Joan, 1959– II. Title.

  GV865.M6M65 2015

  796.357092—dc23

  [B]  2014043223

  ISBN 978-1-4516-4104-2

  ISBN 978-1-4516-4106-6 (ebook)

  All photographs courtesy of the author, except images on p. 13 of the insert, which are courtesy of Angels Baseball.