Bob Kendrick shares how Yordano Ventura’s visit to Negro Leagues museum inspired others
Were you surprised by right-hander Lucas Giolito’s breakout season for the White Sox in 2019?
Giolito, who led the league in earned runs allowed (118) and walks (90) in 2018, was an All-Star who finished sixth in Cy Young Award voting after striking out 11.6 batters per nine innings with a 3.41 ERA last season.
His trick? He followed the path of late Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura.
OK, there’s more to it than that, of course. But Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, visited the Baltimore Orioles at spring training on Wednesday and shared a fun story of Ventura.
Kendrick said the Royals brought Ventura and other minor leaguers to the museum in 2013, and Kendrick began telling stories about Paige.
“He is absolutely enamored with Satchel Paige,” Kendrick told the Orioles. “When you get there, there is a life-sized statue of Satchel on what we call the Field of Legends. So when Yordano gets on the field, he goes over the statue of Satchel and he rubs elbows with Satchel. Well, if you know his story, that year he gets promoted from Double-A to the major leagues. He swears rubbing elbows with Satchel earned him that promotion.
Ventura told his teammates from the Dominican Republic to rub elbows with the Satchel statue. When the Mariners visited a few years, Dee Gordon brought James Paxton, and Kendrick shared the Ventura/Satchel story. Paxton rubbed elbows and then pitched a gem against the Royals days later, Kendrick said.
Last year, Kendrick said, he told Giolito about rubbing elbows with the statue and, well, Giolito did it too and had a fantastic year.
Kendrick continued: “I told the story to a little girl that was playing in a softball tournament. What does she do? She rubs elbows with Satchel. She was pitching, she threw a shutout.”
It’s a great story:
