In America's Outfield, Giants' Ramos, Lee and Yaz bond over differences (and trash talk)

San Francisco Chronicle​

5 hours ago

The San Francisco Giants feature America's Outfield, if you define America as a cultural and ethnic melting pot.
The left fielder is Puerto Rican, the center fielder is South Korean, born in Japan, and the right fielder is American, with Polish and Italian immigrant roots holding up his family tree.
Left to right, they are Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee and Mike Yastrzemski. Pronounce and spell all three names correctly, win a prize.
It's a defensive rainbow coalition. Probably the first Dominican/Korean/Polish-Italian American outfield in major league history.
They've come to the right team. The Giants, New York and San Francisco, are big on ethnic outfield firsts. The first MLB all-Black outfield — Monte Irvin, rookie Willie Mays and Hank Thompson in the 1951 World Series. The first all-Latino outfield, which was also the first and only all-brothers outfield — Felipe, Matty and Jesus Alou, for eight games in 1963.
Ramos, Lee and Yastrzemski are close neighbors in the clubhouse, too, their lockers side-by-side-by-side in one corner. Make it a foursome, counting Justin Han, Lee's interpreter. The Giants' clubhouse dressing cubicles are arranged by position.
'It's about being close to the guys you're going to be playing close to,' Yastrzemski says. 'There's so much communication that goes on out on the field, and it all starts in here, so it's nice to be close to each other. We can talk about how we're going to play against a certain team, how we're going to do against a certain guy, so it's pretty helpful.'
In their first full season together, the three have become buddies. Amigos. Be peu.
'Sometimes baseball,' Lee says when asked what the three talk about, 'but more of it is just joking around, you know, being friendly with each other.'
'We're super close to each other,' Ramos says, referring to more than geography. 'We have a good communication, we talk a lot of crap to each other, we just play around a lot.'
Yastrzemski says, 'We go out to eat on the road together a decent amount. Me and Ramos both have families, so if they're on the road, one of us will be missing (from dinner), but we try to do as much stuff together as possible.'
Language is not a barrier.
Ramos speaks English fluently, working at it since he signed his first pro contract at 17.
'I feel like I'm still learning a lot,' Ramos says. 'It was a challenge for sure when I was coming up, but I feel pretty good at it now. It was a main thing for me, I watched everything in English, all my friends were Americans, that helped me a lot. I like talking, so I just go out there and talk, I'm not shy.'
Lee works hard on his English.
'Jungy's done a great job of focusing on learning English, and he understands really well,' Yastrzemski says. 'I don't think he's quite comfortable talking to the media in English, but he does pretty well with us, and he understands just about everything we're saying, which is great.
'At the same time, I'm learning some Korean and some Spanish words, we all just kind of mix and match and have fun with it. There's some interesting conversations.'
What has Yastrzemski learned in Korean?
'A lot of it is probably stuff that I can't say (for print). That's obviously our nature, the first place we want to go is to learn the curse words and the ways to make fun of each other.'
Lee says, through Han, 'I have Justin around, he helps out, but the players also help out with English, so that makes it comfortable for me.'
Learning English is no picnic for a South Korean. English has sounds that don't exist in Korean, and vice versa. Humor helps, it's kind of universal.
'Youngie's pretty funny,' says Ramos, who gives Lee's nickname a Latin flavor with the soft J, while Yastrzemski gives it the hard J — Jungie.
The three have stuff in common, such as athletic bloodlines. Lee's father, Jong Beom Lee, was a star player in the Japanese and Korean major leagues. His nickname was Son of the Wind. Jung Hoo's nickname in Korea was Grandson of the Wind, although his speed is only slightly above average.
Ramos' older brother Henry is a true baseball journeyman, currently in the 16th year of that journey, which has included a cup of coffee in the big leagues and two seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization. Another older brother, Hector, was a professional soccer player.
Yastrzemski's grandfather is, of course, Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl. Carl's parents emigrated from Poland to become potato farmers on Long Island. Mike's mother's family traces back to Italy.
All three Giants have roots in great baseball cultures.
South Korea came relatively late to the game, but has produced 29 MLB players, seven of whom are currently in the majors.
Puerto Rico's rich baseball world has churned out more than 400 big leaguers, including late Giants legend Orlando Cepeda.
Culture-wise, Yastrzemski trumps his buddies. Historical records show that in the early 1600s, Polish immigrants brought a sport to the New World, a game called palant, played with a bat and a ball made of rags, to the amusement of Native American spectators.
In the outfield, Ramos, Lee and Yastrzemski communicate with looks, gestures and baseballese.
Question to Lee: How do you say, 'I got it'?
Lee (skipping his interpreter): 'I got it.'