Hitting a home run in the World Series would be considered the ultimate career achievement for most professional baseball players, but not for Miguel Rojas.
Amid the hectic schedules and heightened urgency of Major League Baseball’s postseason, Dodgers star Miguel Rojas took a special, personal road trip over the weekend for something entirely unrelated to baseball: a U.S. citizenship test.
“As soon as I made the decision that I wanted to do this, I wanted to do it for my family, for my kids and for the future of them,” Rojas said. “So, I’m really proud of being an American.”
Rojas, a native of Venezuela, has been in the United States off and on for most of his life. A prospect in the Cincinnati Reds organization, he first came to the States at age 16.
Now, at 37 and having raised two children in the United States, Rojas is looking to become a citizen.
“I’m proud of being working here for over 20 years now,” Rojas said. “I’ve been playing professional baseball now for a long time, and that gave me the opportunity to learn the culture, the country, and I don’t take that for granted.”
Rojas’ best-remembered “work” came in last year’s World Series win; he hit the game-tying home run in the ninth inning off Toronto’s Jeff Hoffman.
Fellow Dodger Will Smith later added a home run of his own, and Los Angeles eventually won the World Series, the club’s second championship in Rojas’ time there.
Speaking of time, the 37-year-old Venezuelan’s Major League career is coming to an end. The 13-year vet announced at the start of the season that this would be his last year.
But while his time on the diamond is coming to an end, his time as a citizen of the country that has given him such amazing opportunities is just beginning.