For an explosive first baseman who smashed a whopping 317 home runs in 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), Adrian Gonzalez holds a calm demeanour off the field. Travelling to India for the first time, the 44-year-old legend baseballer is super-excited to explore the culture, food and sports fandom during his week-long schedule. Speaking exclusively to HT City, he shares that he loves travelling to different places. “For me, it’s about getting to know the culture. I love travelling to all the different places in the world. And when the opportunity came to come here to Mumbai, obviously, I couldn’t say no, because India is a place that I’ve always wanted to come to. To come and visit and get to know the culture here, but also to be able to play the game of baseball is just amazing. I’m just excited to be here,” says the five-time MLB All-Star veteran.
Gonzalez was not always in the USA. He was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and says that he dared to dream big and made sure he followed his passion to play the sport. He also states that this is an inspiration for other Indian talents to understand that they, too, can make it big in baseball. “I would say that, growing up in Tijuana, Mexico, it might seem like getting to the major leagues is very hard or not attainable in a way. But if you love a sport, if you love something and you put your heart and effort and all your discipline into it, you can achieve it. All it takes is starting to practice, getting to know the sport, playing the sport every day and doing everything you can,” he explains.
He understands the influence of cricket in India, but he believes that proper baseball academies can help increase the passion and love for the sport within India. “India has a great culture of cricket that is not baseball, but there are similarities in the fact that there’s a pitcher, hitter and fielders. So there’s a base there that you can grow from. And so you have people that can do the things that you need to do in baseball. I think academies are a really good way to grow the game of baseball here in India because you can almost have them side by side, where you can have the dream of playing cricket, but at the same time, you can also play baseball,” says Gonzalez.
{{/usCountry}}He understands the influence of cricket in India, but he believes that proper baseball academies can help increase the passion and love for the sport within India. “India has a great culture of cricket that is not baseball, but there are similarities in the fact that there’s a pitcher, hitter and fielders. So there’s a base there that you can grow from. And so you have people that can do the things that you need to do in baseball. I think academies are a really good way to grow the game of baseball here in India because you can almost have them side by side, where you can have the dream of playing cricket, but at the same time, you can also play baseball,” says Gonzalez.
{{/usCountry}}The former Boston Red Sox player is a foodie and loves his spicy food, all thanks to his roots in Mexico. And he is looking forward to exploring the spice levels of India. “I really want to try the traditional dishes of India. I know India is a very large country, and so you’re going to have different traditional dishes in different parts of the country. We’re here in Mumbai, I want to try the Mumbai dishes. But I love spice. I’ve taken a ghost pepper and taken a whole bite of a ghost pepper just straight up. So, I’ve done Carolina Reapers. I want to try a dish where I’m going to be like, ‘oh, wow, that’s spicy’. And it’s really hard to get me to say that’s spicy,” he says.