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Two players were added into the Central American Baseball Association Hall of Fame in 2008. Pitcher Marvin Ramos was the headliner with a first ballot selection with 83.1%. CF Manuel Rodriguez joined him narrowly at 66.7% on his sixth ballot. Rodriguez was an odd case making the CABA Hall despite having more time spent in MLB. CABA officials granted his request to wear St. Louis Cardinals garb for his CABA induction despite that obviously not being a CABA team.



No other players were above 50% in 2008. Notably dropped after ten ballots was reliever Juan Carrillo, who had a 14-year career between CABA, MLB, and BSA. In CABA, the Honduran had two Reliever of the Year awards, 267 saves, 2.52 ERA, 739 innings, 898 strikeouts, 144 ERA+, and 19.7 WAR. He didn’t have the longevity or crazy dominance to get the nod. Carrillo debuted at 37.3% and got as high as 46.0% in 2007 before ending with a low of 16.5%.



Marvin “Voodoo” Ramos – Starting Pitcher – Ecatepec Explosion – 83.1% First Ballot

Marvin Ramos was a 6’2’’, 200 pound right-handed pitcher from Bajos de Haina, a city of 158,000 just southwest of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The city has the unfortunate reputation as the “Dominican Chernobyl” due to some of the worst lead contamination in the world.

Ramos was a hard thrower with 99-101 mph velocity on his fastball. His stuff was merely graded as above average despite that, but his control and movement were both viewed as good to great. Ramos also had a slider, splitter, and changeup in his arsenal. The often tricky movement in his pitches earned him the “Voodoo” nickname from those in the game. Compared to other great CABA aces, Ramos’s stamina was considered average to below average.

He was great at holding runners with respectable defense. Ramos showed great durability throughout his 20s, although injuries started to pile up as he aged. He was a team captain and one of the most well respected men in the game. No one had a bad word to say about Ramos as a person, considered a true class act and gentleman.

In the 1988 CABA Draft, Ramos was picked 10^th overall by Haiti, making the move across Hispaniola. He was a full-time starter immediately and tossed 235+ innings in each of his six seasons with the Herons. Ramos was a bit sporadic in his first two seasons, but had a terrific junior season. He led the Caribbean League in ERA (2.52), innings (274.2) and WAR (6.5) in 1991, earning Pitcher of the Year.

Haiti ended a decade-long playoff drought in 1991, but lost in the wild card round to Honduras. Ramos’ lone playoff start saw four runs allowed in seven innings. The Herons struggled in the next two seasons, but Ramos trucked along. He led in ERA again in 1993 with a career best 2.42, winning his second Pitcher of the Year. Haiti made it back above .500 in 1994 and 1995 but couldn’t crack the playoff field.

Despite playing for the Dominican Republic’s neighbor, Ramos still regularly went home for the World Baseball Championship. From 1990-01, he tossed 141 WBC innings with a 12-5 record, 2.43 ERA, 143 strikeouts, 44 walks, 149 ERA+, and 3.3 WAR. That run and leadership helped make Ramos a national favorite for the DR even as he played in Haiti.

With the Herons, Ramos had a 91-65 record, 3.16 ERA, 1520.1 innings, 1421 strikeouts, 263 walks, 121 ERA+, and 34.0 WAR. Although he pitched slightly more innings for Haiti and won his awards there, Ramos would become better known for his second run with Ecatepec. He entered free agency after the 1994 season and at age 29, joined the Explosion on a six-year, $11,880,000 deal.

Ramos led the Mexican League in WAR twice with 7.5 in his Ecatepec debut and a career best 8.1 in 1998. He didn’t dominate the statistical leaderboards otherwise and didn’t win POTY with the Explosion, although he finished third in voting in 1995, 1998, and 2000.

Ecatepec was the ML champ in 1994, but struggled to 71-91 in Ramos’ debut season. After that, the Explosion began their dynasty run with 10 straight playoff berths and South Division titles from 1996-2005. Ramos’ great leadership was considered a big reason for their success and his #43 uniform would later be retired.

The Explosion couldn’t get over the hump immediately, losing in the MLCS in 1996 and 1997 with a first round exit in 1998. They won six straight pennants after that and took the CABA title in 1999 and 2000 while Ramos was there. His career playoff numbers were surprisingly lousy with a 1-7 record in 72 innings, 4.88 ERA, 60 strikeouts, and 78 ERA+. Still, Ramos had two CABA rings and five Mexican League rings to his name.

Ramos missed the 1999 postseason run to a torn labrum suffered that summer. Ecatepec still opted to give him a four-year, $13,440,000 extension the next summer. Ramos bounced back with a strong 2000, helping them repeat as CABA champs. Unfortunately, he tore the labrum again in the summer of 2001.

In 2002, Ramos attempted a comeback from that injury, but he only saw 31 innings with a 4.06 ERA. He retired that winter at age 36 and finished his Ecatepec tenure with a 97-52 record, 2.95 ERA, 1517.2 innings, 1444 strikeouts, 127 ERA+, and 42.3 WAR.

Ramos ended his career with a 188-117 record, 3.05 ERA, 3038 innings, 2865 strikeouts, 539 walks, 264/389 quality starts, 83 complete games, 124 ERA+, 77 FIP-, and 76.3 WAR. His tallies aren’t at the top of the Hall of Fame leaderboard, but certainly don’t look out of place compared to other inductees.

Few players in the game were considered to be better people than Ramos, which swayed most skeptics. Plus, two Pitcher of the Year wins and a role in a dynasty are hard to ignore, even if the grand totals aren’t overly eye-popping. Ramos got 83.1% for a first ballot induction atop CABA’s 2008 class.



Manuel Rodriguez – Center Field – St. Louis Cardinals – 66.7% Sixth Ballot

Manuel Rodriguez was a 6’1’’, 200 pound left-handed center fielder from Jalapa, Guatemala; a city of just under 160,000 inhabitants about 60 miles east of the capital. Rodriguez had outstanding home run power and could hit the ball harder than almost anyone. Oddly enough, he complimented that with very good speed and base stealing ability. Rodriguez could get too aggressive though on the basepaths at times.

Rodriguez was decent at drawing walks, but he was a free swinger who struck out a ton. At his peak, he was an average-at-best contact hitter and was firmly mediocre for much of his run. Rodriguez also really struggled against left handed pitching with a career .197 average and 73 wRC+. Despite his speed, he didn’t get many extra base hits outside of the homers. Around 45% of his at-bats ended in one of the three true outcomes.

Rodriguez played primarily in center field with a few starts in left. A few terrible seasons at the end tanked his stats, but Rodriguez was considered reliably solid for most of his career defensively. He had excellent durability and played 140+ games in all 15 years of his career. Rodriguez had a bizarre skillset, but became a fan favorite especially for his towering dingers.

The home run potential was noticed immediately as a prospect, leading to Nicaragua picking Rodriguez fifth overall in the 1988 CABA Draft. He was a full-time starter immediately and took second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1989. In year two, Rodriguez led the Caribbean League in home runs with 51. He added 8.9 WAR in 1989, earning MVP and his first Silver Slugger.

Rodriguez followed that up with 68 home runs in 1990, falling four short of Yohnny Galaz’s single-season record from two years earlier. He also led in runs, RBI, total bases, slugging, OPS, wRC+, and WAR; repeating as MVP and a Silver Slugger winner. Rodriguez led in OPS again in 1991 and in homers, slugging, and WAR in 1992. He won Sluggers both years and was second in 1992 MVP voting.

Nicaragua had generally been a weaker franchise, but Rodriguez led them to their first pennants in 1989 and 1990. The Navigators lost in the CABA Championship both years, but Rodriguez was a major reason they were there. In his 25 playoff starts, he had 27 hits, 16 runs, 9 home runs, 19 RBI, a .290/.323/.613 slash, and 159 wRC+. Nicaragua would fall to around .500 for Rodriguez’s final three years there.

Rodriguez became popular throughout all of Central America. He played for his native Guatemala from 1989-2002 in the World Baseball Championship. Rodriguez had 124 games, 117 starts, 78 hits, 71 runs, 39 home runs, 72 RBI, 46 stolen bases, an .189/.322/.500 slash, 135 wRC+, and 4.6 WAR. He kept coming home for the WBC long after his CABA career ended, which kept him popular locally despite leaving for the United States.

After the 1993 season, Rodriguez opted for free agency entering his age 28 season. That did rub some the wrong way within the Navigators organization and they never retired his #23 uniform. Some figure that’s why Rodriguez chose to be inducted into the CABA Hall of Fame in an MLB team’s threads. The MLB run began with an eight-year, $26,680,000 deal with St. Louis.

Rodriguez had a stellar debut season, leading the National Association in homers (52) and runs (109) while posting 7.7 WAR. He earned a Silver Slugger and took third in MVP voting. Rodriguez never replicated that season as MLB pitchers learned how to strike him out at high rates.

He still generally had enough power and good enough defense to still provide positive value even batting below .200. The Cardinals were up and down in his tenure, but generally outside of the playoffs outside of their 2001 division title. St. Louis was the #1 seed that year, but suffered a second round playoff defeat.

The wheels fell off though in an atrocious 1999 season for Rodriguez. He had a .131/.205/.195 slash, 304 strikeouts, 46.9% strikeout rate, 11 wRC+, and -6.8 WAR. Rodriguez was the eighth-ever MLB player with a 300+ strikeout season. It was an all-time lousy season, which everyone hated to see since Rodriguez was so well liked.

He bounced back in 2000 and 2001 and provided positive value again, but did still lead in strikeouts. In total for St. Louis, Rodriguez had 919 hits, 606 runs, 94 doubles, 267 home runs, 644 RBI, a .199/.276/.404 slash, 102 wRC+, and 20.2 WAR.

Now 36 years old, Rodriguez managed to secure a three-year, $13,000,000 deal with Buffalo. He struggled though with -1.3 WAR and 72 wRC+ in his one season with the Blue Sox, retiring that winter. For his MLB tenure, Rodriguez had 1009 hits, 653 runs, 106 doubles, 285 home runs, 686 RBI, 189 stolen bases, a .198/.274/.397 slash, 100 wRC+, and 19.0 WAR.

For his entire pro career, Rodriguez had 1900 hits, 1243 runs, 225 doubles, 598 home runs, 1349 RBI, 749 walks, 2891 strikeouts, 446 stolen bases, a .225/.296/.483 slash, 121 wRC+, and 61.4 WAR. His full pro totals are very borderline for the Hall of Fame and really bolstered by the home runs in particular.

For CABA specifically, it was just six years with Nicaragua with 891 hits, 590 runs, 313 home runs, 654 RBI, 295 walks, 257 stolen bases, a .266/.330/.613 slash, 155 wRC+, and 42.5 WAR. Those are six excellent seasons, but a Hall of Famer who wasn’t around to even get to 1000 hits seemed like a complete non-starter. There were friendly voters though who tried to extrapolate what Rodriguez might have gotten had he stayed in CABA.

Rodriguez had one of the stranger cases as even with impossibly low accumulations for the Hall; supporters had things to point to. He led the league in homers thrice, won two MVPs, four Silver Sluggers, and helped a historical mediocre Nicaragua franchise to its first two championship appearances. Plus, he was a fan favorite with loud boosters despite the resume logically looking incomplete.

Rodriguez debuted at 35.4% in 2003, but slowly gained traction up to 56.6% in 2006. He dropped to 50.6% in 2007, but managed to get a groundswell of support in 2008. Rodriguez just crossed the line at 66.7% for a sixth ballot induction. There’s probably no Hall of Famer in any pro league with lower totals in his inducted league, but the man socked dingers. Years later, scholars still aren’t exactly sure what to make of Rodriguez’ career.