MIAMI -- Jose Abreu’s son had a simple request of his father for Friday night’s game: Just hit me a home run.
No big deal.
In Miami since Sunday, Abreu’s son Dariel watched his dad play baseball for the first time on Friday night as the White Sox started a three-game series at the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park.
The 5-year-old is visiting the United States for the first time from Cuba until early September. Abreu said his son only asked for one favor on Friday — it just so happens to be a Ruthian request.
“The only thing he asked me is to just hit a homer,” Abreu said through an interpreter before he laughed. “That’s the only thing that he asked me.”
All Abreu desires for the next month is to spend as much time with his son as possible. Dariel will travel to Chicago next week when the White Sox return home from their current nine-game road trip. Abreu also will stay behind and spend his day off Monday in Miami before rejoining the team on Tuesday in Cleveland.
Even though the White Sox arrived in Miami around 3 a.m. EST on Friday morning, Abreu woke up early to be with his son. The two also spent all of Monday hanging out before Abreu traveled to Kansas City.
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The pair was previously reunited in December when Abreu traveled to Cuba as part of Major League Baseball tour. Before that, Abreu hadn’t seen his son since he left Cuba for the United States in August 2013. Earlier in the week, Abreu said the sacrifices he has made to achieve his dream of playing for an MLB team have been extremely difficult. That absence has made this visit even more special for Abreu.
“I like to have my family around and have my family united,” Abreu said. “My family is all I have and I’m glad to be with all of my family.
“To have my son here is very nice. Everybody knows how I am with my family. All of my family and I are very happy because we have him here. It was a special moment for us and we’re trying to take advantage of all the time that we can spend together.”
Abreu’s equally excited to play for the first time in Miami, which along with Chicago he describes as his second town. While nothing can ever match his home of 27 years that he has had to leave behind to play in the majors, Abreu, his wife and parents have come to call Miami their second home.
Even if he’s tired from all of the travel, Abreu expects to have plenty of inspiration to work off of on Friday. Whether or not it’ll be enough to match Babe Ruth, who once reportedly homered in Game 4 of the 1926 World Series after he told a sick child he would remains to be seen.
But if anyone can, it might be Abreu, who in 2014 was described by former teammate Adrian Nieto as “The Cuban Babe Ruth.”
“I’m very excited because the atmosphere here is to be something good,” Abreu said. “I’m going to try to treat that like extra motivation too. I’m going to try to perform the best I can.”