From The Peopling of New York City
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Baseball Players
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Emmanuel Rodriguez, commonly known as “A-Rod” was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood in 1975 to parents from the Dominican Republic. According to Hispanic Culture, he had a difficult childhood, as he had to move to Santo Domingo because his parents experienced major financial shortages. While they did move back to the United States, to a small town of Kendal, Florida, his adversities were by no means eliminated. His father had left him, and a difficult divorce took place between his parents. Even though his father had deserted him, he did leave in him a passion of baseball and he pursued it vigorously. He constantly worked on his hitting and fielding and made a considerable improvement throughout his high school career. After his high school career, he attracted tremendous attention by major league teams, and made his debut at a tender age of 18. He has since had some tremendous accomplishments including the elite “40-40” club, which is 40 home runs and 40 steals in the entire season. “A-Rod” currently plays for the New York Yankees, and its among its best players.
Robinson Cano
Robinson Cano was born in the Dominican Republic, in the area of San Pedro De Macrois. He essentially spent his entire schooling career there before being signed by the New York Yankees in 2001. He is a very hard worker, constantly looking for ways to improve on his fielding and hitting. In 2005, he made his debut as a second baseman, and since then has evolved into a respectable hitter and fielder. According to Major League Baseball, he had a disappointing start to the 2008 season, as he hit below .200 in April. However, he has began torridly in 2009, as currently he is hitting .366, among the best in the American League. He has only improved as the season progresses.
Basketball Players
Charlie Villanueva
Charlie Villanueva is the son of Dominican immigrants, Roberta Villanueva and Doris Mejia. According to National Alopecia Areata Foundation, he was born in Elmhurst Queens, and attended Newtown High school, which is also in that area. He played basketball at the University of Connecticut, but was given the chance to play with other colleges, like Kansas as well. He was drafted by the Toronto Raptors after his college career, and did well as a rookie, which is a first year player. He earned honors as a member of the First NBA All Rookie Team. He was the runner up to the rookie of the year, which he lost to Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. Since then, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he has played since. He is a wonderful player, who is always finding ways to improve on his game, whether it is offensively or defensively.