Pedro Ramirez wore a cap with "VZ" on the side during Thursday night’s game after earthquakes in Venezuela left him worried about his family. William Contreras is not in the game story, but Ramirez’s gesture made the disaster visible on the field.
Pedro Ramirez and Venezuela
An earthquake struck Venezuela on Wednesday, and a second one hit after the first. Ramirez said he was relieved when his mother told him his family was OK after the first quake, but the second brought a fresh scare when she did not answer right away.
"During the [second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, injured Venezuelan reliever Daniel] Palencia had told me that the situation got much worse," Ramirez said through an interpreter Thursday. Later, he texted his mom and waited for a response that did not come immediately. "After the game, I texted my mom, and she didn’t immediately respond to me. So there was some worry there," he said.
VZ on the side
Ramirez eventually reached his mother and learned his family was safe. He and Daniel Palencia then wore caps with "VZ" on the side during Thursday night’s game, a public sign that carried the message home without needing anything else on the uniform.
"She eventually did respond to me, and I was able to get in touch with her. … Thank god my family’s safe. But still, I’m really sad for everything that we’re going through," Ramirez said. He added that the disaster brought "a lot of deaths, a lot of children [affected] and a lot of people that were left without a home."
Ramirez left home at 12
The 22-year-old said distance has always made those moments harder. "I left home at 12 years old to play," he said, adding, "It’s difficult because you’re far away from them, and whenever they don’t respond to you, you always get worried because you don’t know what happens to your family once you’re far away."
He also said, "We’re all Venezuelan," and "we’re all sharing that pain together." Ramirez said all the Venezuelans outside the country were feeling it, too, and the toll inside the country was already severe: the earthquakes claimed more than 150 lives. The next layer of damage is still only partly described by the facts here, beyond deaths, children affected, and homes lost.
