Salvador Perez makes a splash at Royals FanFest, becoming a U.S. citizen on main stage
A half hour before the ceremony that officially made Royals fan favorite and All-Star catcher Salvador Perez a United States citizen, he stood in a bathroom on the ground floor putting on a dark blue dress suit and practicing the oath of citizenship.
Perez, 29, wanted to make sure he stated the words clearly and confidently in such a monumental moment in his life. He turned to Royals third base coach Vance Wilson for assurances that the words came through his thick accent, and received the approval he sought.
Those assurances calmed Perez’s nerves temporarily, but he certainly felt them flooding back during the ceremony in front of a packed house at Bartle Hall on Friday during the Royals’ annual FanFest.
“You know what, I would rather be in the World Series, bases loaded, two outs, 3-2 and hitting than do that thing again,” said Perez, who missed last season following Tommy John surgery in spring training. “I was shaking. My eyes were super big. I felt like I needed to drink water every second. But it was fun, after.”
With Chief U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips presiding, members of the front office staff, clubhouse staff, manager Mike Matheny and Royals chairman John Sherman sat in the front row. Perez’s teammates looked on from alongside the stage as Perez completed the process and became a naturalized U.S. citizen on the main stage.
Immediately after he completed his oath, a bevy of children lined along the front of the stage led the auditorium broke out into a chant of Salvy! Salvy! Salvy!
Perez said becoming a citizen will allow his wife to go back to Venezuela and visit her father for the first time in four years. He also said citizenship is important because it will allow him to help members of his family get their green cards.
“It means a lot to him,” Alex Gordon, the Royals’ longest-tenured player and left fielder, said before the ceremony. “I just saw him a couple minutes ago and just congratulated him on it. It almost looked like he teared up, so it means a lot to him. I’m happy for him and his family. I know this is a special day for him.”
Gordon was one of many teammates who watched the ceremony and cheered for his longtime teammate.
The Royals signed Perez as an amateur free agent in 2006. He made his major league debut in August 2011, and he’s gone on to become one of the faces of the franchise on the field. He’s a six-time All-Star, a five-time Gold Glove winner and a World Series MVP.
“I’ve known him since we were 18 and he was 17,” Royals veteran pitcher Danny Duffy said of Perez. “It has taken a long time. I mean, we’ve got the best on the case. I’m sure he’s really excited about it. It’s a big deal.”
Perez, who lives in Miami during the offseason, started the process five years ago. It included a lot of paperwork as well as studying 100 questions for his citizenship test, and he listened to tapes in his car on his way to the ballpark in Miami for two months as part of his study routine.
“It’s just a special day, obviously, for Salvy and his family, but I think for our community and our country, to see someone this excited about becoming a citizen of the United States of America. And it means that much to him that he would go to any length to make that happen,” Matheny said. “I think it’s pretty humbling to all of us that maybe fall victim to taking that for granted sometimes.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 5:58 PM.
