http://www.listindiario.com.do/antes/julio06/130706/cuerpos/deporte/dep1.htm



Ana Mercedes Mars, the mother of Esmailin González, will not have more to
late remove each her loaded table from fried foods: meats, yucca and guineí
tos (type of food) to install its fritura, that is several years old being
the favorite place to have supper of many of the residents in Pisarrete, an
impoverished sector of the district San Antonio in Baní.

In just a short time, the poor woman and humble house that has been their
home for more than one decade will become a sad memory. Its physical
structure represents the most suitable picture of the humble and close state
in which it has developed the life of Esmailin, second from a family of six
children of Ana Mercedes and Daniel González Martinez, who dedicates himself
to the agricultural works.

Within months they will not have to look for “sellalotó” to cover the
holes during the rains.

Like a many other young Dominican players, baseball will change the life of
Esmailin and his family after the youngster finishes signed a $1.4M contract
with the Washington Nationals.

How much is that? A little more than 45 million times the minimum wage.

There will be no more poverty for the González, as if they were touched by a
magical wand, his way of living has been transformed by the heavens. Because
in this house was a player who in a relatively short time would become
desired by more than a dozen of Major League teams.

Many have projected Esmailin to have a glove like Ozzie Smith, and generate
an offense like Miguel Tejada, but aside from these comparisons of his
athletic abilities, he is till a young an inexperienced player.

Before buying a luxurious car, the first thing that Esmailin will do is build
a house for his mother, Ana Mercedes, with all the comforts that his parents
deserve. Because they made a tooth and nail effort to raise this family of
six.

“The vehicles will come later, I am not in a hurry to buy it, to make my
parents and brothers comfortable is the first thing,” said Gonzalez speaking
with a security unknown in a young person of 16 years.

As if he already felt hunger to leave the poverty, González took refuge
early in baseball and little by little developed the qualities that recently
have made him one of the highes prospects in the country.

“The conditions he grew up in was something that affected me and I tried to
help him as much as I could,” expressed Jose Lust, special Assistant of Jim
Bowden who along with Basilio Vizcaíno, Gonzalez’ agent, and Jose Báez
helped in the signing of González.

Before in buying mansions, Esmailin wants to continue cultivating its
abilities, because many scouts have already compared him to the best existing
talent in their position.

He wants to prove that the experts were no wrong.