Rafael "Felo" Ramírez (22 June 1923 – 21 August 2017) was a Cuban-American

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

sports announcer, most notably for the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

. Born in

Bayamo, Cuba Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region. Overview The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamo River. It is affected by the violent Bayamo wind. One of the mos ...

, Ramirez was also a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

expert, having broadcast fights for Latin American radio and television audiences since 1949 along with other Spanish-language broadcasters such as

Buck Canel Eloy "Buck" Canel (March 4, 1906 – April 7, 1980) was an American Spanish language sportscaster of Major League Baseball games. Canel was born in Argentina when his father was working for the Spanish consulate in that country. His famous ca ...

and, Pancho Pepe Cróquer when the ''

Gillette Cavalcade of Sports The ''Gillette Cavalcade of Sports'' is an American radio-turned-television program by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) that ran from 1942 to 1960. The program included broadcasts of a variety of sports, although it is primarily remembere ...

'', aired through

NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

, extended their Spanish programming activities to Latin American countries, where it was known as the ''Cabalgata Deportiva Gillette''.

Career

Ramirez called more than 40 Caribbean World Series. He served as a broadcaster for nine years in his native Cuba, before leaving for Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. From 1993 until April 2017, he was the Spanish radio announcer for the Miami Marlins. He called many baseball moments in his career, including

Don Larsen's perfect game On October 8, 1956, in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, pitcher Don Larsen of the New York Yankees threw a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. It was the only no-hitter in World Series history until the 2022 Houston A ...

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was pos ...

's 3,000th Major League hit, and

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

's 715th home run. As a Marlins broadcaster, Ramirez called both the 1997 and 2003 World Series. He has also called numerous boxing matches, including many involving

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

. During the mid-1980s, Ramirez and Puerto Rican sportscaster and boxing promoter Ivonne Class co-hosted a weekly, Saturday nights boxing television show on Tele-Once, the returning television channel that had once been one of Puerto Rico's most seen TV stations, featuring live telecasts of Class-promoted bouts and also recorded fights of the past, like Muhammad Ali- Bob Foster.

Personal life

Ramírez was born in

Bayamo Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region. Overview The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamo River. It is affected by the violent Bayamo wind. One of the most ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, and is commonly known as ''"El Orgullo de Bayamo"'' ("The Pride of Bayamo") by many fans and colleagues. A longtime resident of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, he was inducted in the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame and has been honored by the local legislature.

Death

Ramirez was hospitalized after a fall in April 2017. He died on August 21, 2017, at the age of 94.

Awards and honors

In 2001, Ramirez received the

Ford C. Frick Award The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball". It is named for Ford C. Frick, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Before h ...

from the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

. His speech, delivered entirely in his native Spanish, was translated by Jaime Jarrin. In 2003, he was inducted into the

Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame The Pabellón de la Fama del Caribe (In English, the ''Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame'') was established in 1996 by Juan Francisco Puello Herrera, commissioner of the Confederación de Béisbol del Caribe (''Caribbean Confederation of Profession ...

. In 2007 the music of billo's caracas boys of magallanes y susana is they appeared Luis Enrique Arias y Carlos González (periodista deportivo). In 2012, Ramirez received a recognition in Valencia, Venezuela. The Magallanes organization honored his career of more than 60 years as a sports play by play announcer.

References

External links

Felo Ramírez
Ford C. Frick Award biography at the National Baseball Hall of Fame

m(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez, Felo 1923 births 2017 deaths Accidental deaths from falls Major League Baseball broadcasters Miami Marlins announcers Ford C. Frick Award recipients Cuban emigrants to the United States