When Alex Cora signed as the Red Sox manager, his contract included one unique stipulation: A plane full of relief supplies for recently hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
“I didn’t talk about money,” Cora recently recalled. “I didn’t talk about incentives. I didn’t talk about housing or cars and all that — all I wanted was a plane full of supplies for my hometown.”
Now, the 43-year-old Caguas native wants one more thing for the US territory.
“The next thing I’m going to ask ownership is if we can take this trophy to my island,” he said after receiving the World Series trophy Sunday night. “That’d be great.”
Standing nearby during the trophy presentation, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy appeared to gesture that Cora’s request was something they could make happen. A little later, the rookie manager appended his request.
“Now I’m just asking for the whole team, or the majority of them, to fly home with that trophy and enjoy it with my countrymen,” he said in a later interview.
Cora’s first-year success as a manager has made a few Red Sox fans in the Puerto Rican community, both in Boston and back on the island. He also hasn’t been afraid to speak up for the island, which is still recovering from the devastating effects of Maria. A number of friends and family from Caguas were in attendance at Dodgers Stadium to witness the World Series-clinching 5-1 win Sunday night.
“We’ve been through a lot of tough times, obviously, after Maria,” Cora told WCVB. ” But I’m happy they’re enjoying this.”
He added onto those words with a simple tweet in the wee early hours Monday morning.