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

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

sports announcer, most notably for the Miami Marlins. 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 and, Pancho Pepe Cróquer when the '' Gillette Cavalcade of Sports'', aired through

NBC Red Network The NBC, 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 Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...

, 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 Houston Astros p ...

, Roberto Clemente's 3,000th Major League hit, and Hank Aaron'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. 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 WLII-DT (channel 11), branded on-air as TeleOnce, is a television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico, serving the Territories of the United States#Permanently inhabited territories, U.S. territory as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. ...

, 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 mos ...

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 Caribb ...

, 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 from the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 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