By Will Conerly

Thirty percent of players in Major League Baseball are of Latino decent.

However, many of the traditional media outlets do not highlight and cover these successes like La Vida Baseball can. Andy Martinez, who graduated from Quincy University in December 2015,  is currently a digital and social producer for La Vida Baseball, a new multimedia website.

La Vida Baseball is in partnership with the baseball Hall of Fame and they focus on covering the stories and lifestyles of Latino baseball players.

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“We always say its America’s pastime but its pastime of all the Americans,” Martinez, who visited Quincy University last week, said.

The company has continued to make its mark in social media. For example, the company started in 2017, and now has over 30,000 followers on Twitter.

So, if you haven’t heard of La Vida Baseball yet, you may soon.

“If you want to learn anything about Latino baseball we are your first choice, not ESPN,” he said.

La Vida Baseball has been using a story telling method to depict how players start playing the game of baseball.

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“Some of these players don’t have a glove until they are 15, 16 years old,” Martinez said.

Many times, Latino players do not speak English, and traditional media companies in America don’t have the dual linguistic abilities that members of La Vida Baseball do.

La Vida can now allow players to be covered speaking their native language and capture what these players really what to say.

“You learn about different cultures and get to appreciate it,” Martinez, who has covered games in three different MLB stadiums, said.

The interesting part is nobody is competing with La Vida baseball. What is unique is everything is written in English. Even if the video is in Spanish they will have English subtitles. Martinez said not only is nobody else doing what they are but anyone can learn and benefit from the content they cover to gain perspective on baseball.

“There is so much baseball (media) out there it hard to wiggle your way through,” Martinez said.

Martinez and LA Vida baseball are trying to expand their brand. They will be going to Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox fan fests, along with Spring Training to expand their brand and share the business.

“I couldn’t have done any of this without learning what I did at Quincy University,” Martinez said.

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