On a wet, damp day during the winter of Chicago in March, you could hear the sounds of children laughing and having fun while learning the fundamentals of Little League baseball inside of Humboldt Park’s field house. The coaches were in Cubs attire and the little leaguers wore their favorite Cubs jerseys as well.

Joshua Borges, a nine-year-old, said he didn’t have a favorite Cubs player, but “had a lot of fun watching the Cubs win the World Series.”

“Baseball is for everybody!” Borges said. “I can grow up to play baseball, too.”

After realizing what the Cubs mean to Borges, he is reminded by his father that Javier Baez of the Cubs is also Puerto Rican, and not to forget that he is too.

Baez, one of the most popular players on the Cubs, resonates with a specific part of Chicago: the Puerto Rican community.

The 24-year-old infielder who calls Bayamón, Puerto Rico home has instilled a new sense of pride for the Humboldt Park community. If you travel to the corner of Division and California avenue in Chicago you would see a giant Puerto Rican flag towering over Humboldt Park. During the summer time, the park itself is filled with baseball diamonds and proud Puerto Rican’s embracing their heritage through latin cuisine, music, and of course, America’s pastime. Boricua’s love their baseball and the impact Baez is having on the community as a whole.

Jessie Salgado, a third-year little league coach in the Humboldt Park community, said the rise of Baez “provides excitement for the youth” and thinks it’ll help the younger Puerto Rican generation grow knowing they have someone to look up to.

“I think the Humboldt Park community as a whole has always been baseball oriented. And it gives encouragement to the younger kids to have that pride instilled into him and especially Chicago having him to look up to as an idol,” Salgado said. “It’s just encouragement. To see someone do it at his level and the way he plays the game, it’s phenomenal.”

“Its given the younger kids a lot more excitement to play baseball. I think for sometime it fell off and the baseball programs died down in the Latino community. But now I think they’re starting to come up again, it’s going to encourage more kids to come out and play.”

The 2016 Cubs’ story will go down as one of the greatest MLB seasons in history as they rallied back from a 3-1 Cleveland Indians series lead. But off the field, the impact of pride and tradition will live on through Baez for years to come.

The world of baseball has seen its fair share of Puerto Rican stars throughout the years. None no more famous than the great Roberto Clemente who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 17 seasons before tragically losing his life in 1972. Managed by the former New York Yankees infielder Edwin Rodriguez for the 2017 World Baseball Classic, team Puerto Rico sent out its various Hispanic stars to try and prove to the world that North America isn’t the only country that can play this game well.

From Yadier Molina, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor to Carlos Beltrán, Giovanni Soto and Eddie Rosario, the Puerto Rican’s went on an impressive 7-0 before losing the championship match to Team USA by a score of 8-0.

While they may have settled for second place, the runner-ups time and time again proved that no matter the result, Puerto Rican’s everywhere showed their love for the country celebrating with a parade after the tournament’s conclusion.

For Adam Delgado, 29, watching Team Puerto Rico display so much emotion and passion in the sport of baseball definitely brings a sense of pride in watching Baez play for his country and with the Cubs.

“Being able to watch a player like Javy perform at the highest level in arguably the toughest sport is extremely special,” Delgado said. “His passion and energy is refreshing and really represents what our culture is about.”

“Growing up, I was fortunate to watch Roberto Alomar, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Sandy Alomar, Carlos Delgado and others represent Puerto Rico. When I see Javy on the field he is representing me. He’s representing my family. He’s representing Puerto Rico. I’m really happy to see this new generation of Puerto Rican players representing our country and playing at an elite level.”

And lest we forget, blonds do have more fun. As evident by Team Puerto Rico’s bonding with everyone dyeing their hair blond. The team knew how to unite on the baseball field and if it took changing their hair color to proudly display their heritage and encourage Puerto Rican’s to embrace their nationality, then so be it.

“I definitely have seen more blond hair at my barbershop. If it weren’t for my job I probably would’ve dyed my hair blond too,” Salgado said. “Every game, my dad and I were texting each other about the play that Javy made or the hustle that Javy showed. I know it brought people together. It was the main conversation with most of my friends. I saw so many posts on Instagram and Twitter of people showing their Puerto Rican pride. We all had a common bond. Puerto Rico is such an underdog in everything. That’s why we have so much energy and passion for our heritage.”

Carlos Borges, 40, an elementary math teacher at Chase Elementary for 18 years, said it’s important for people to acknowledge Baez’s heritage and importance he has become as a prime example for what the community of Humboldt Park embodies.

“I think it’s something that people are holding on to. They’re saying we’re really good at this no matter what’s going on, people having to move out of the neighborhood, but they still comeback to Humboldt Park for the baseball,” Borges said on the impact of Baez. “That’s good to know that [pride] is still here and that’s what it’s all about. When it comes to baseball there’s a respect and love for the game and they have Baez bringing attention to Humboldt Park. He’s just like us. He’s a part of Humboldt Park.”

A silver medal champion with Puerto Rico, NLCS MVP and World Series champion, Baez is a lot of things to a lot of people. But most importantly, Baez is a proud Puerto Rican that exemplifies what it means to his culture through his playing on the field and the message he sends off the field.

He sets a role model standard for the youth of Chicago and reminds them to never forget where they came from. Whether it’s smiling while tagging a runner out at second without looking or the tattoo on his forearm of his country’s flag, Baez is and will always be a champion of his people.

Featured Image via Julie Fennell/FLICKR