Four players with the Minnesota Twins with ties to Puerto Rico are working with the team to help the U.S. territory.
The players are organizing a goodwill drive to help after Hurricane Maria rampaged the island.
“Puerto Rico is destroyed,” first baseman Kennys Vargas told the Post Bulletin. “A lot of people lost everything. We’re trying to do something up here with the guys to get them food and water to stay alive.”
The team is planning on setting up a truck outside Target Field next week for fans to load up with donations. The Twins may also donate proceeds from jersey sales to Puerto Rico.
“After that we might try to send the truck to Miami and then send everything we collect to Puerto Rico,” said Vargas, who is working with fellow Puerto Ricans Jose Berrios, Eddie Rosario and Hector Santiago.
On April 17-18, Minnesota was scheduled to play the Cleveland Indians in Puerto Rico. Vargus told the Pioneer Press that’s in doubt. The game was scheduled at San Juan’s historic Hiram Bithorn Stadium, which suffered a great deal of damage in the storm.
“It will be canceled, I think,” Vargas said. “I would say there won’t be baseball in Puerto Rico for one or two years. Not even winter ball. The stadium got destroyed. The community can’t worry about baseball now. It has to take care of everybody. They have to fix people’s lives first.”