April 1, 2001 -- Major League Baseball continued its international flavor by playing its first game of the 2001 season in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico.

The season kicked of with the Texas Rangers versus the Toronto Blue Jays at Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Hiram Bithorn Stadium is named after the first Puerto Rican-born player to reach the major leagues. Bithorn, who was a pitcher, played four seasons in the big leagues for the Cubs and the White Sox in the '40s. 

Despite being around 40 years old, the stadium looks better than ever as in the past few months it has been extensively renovated.  Perhaps in anticipation of this big game.

Both of these teams have many Latino baseball players and several native sons of Puerto Rico. Carlos Delgado, Jose Cruz Jr., Pudge Rodriguez, Ruben Sierra and Rickey Ledee (who is on the Rangers' disabled list) were all born in Puerto Rico and will never forget the experience of being able to play a major-league game at home.

"Esta es una gran oportunidad para demostrar que los puertorriqueños podemos montar un espectáculo de este nivel. Estoy emocionado con la oportunidad de jugar ante mi gente en un juego inaugural, en un juego de verdad" said Toronto's first baseman, Carlos Delgado.

The game began with Vera Clemente, widow of the great Roberto Clemente and Hall of famer, Orlando Cepeda throwing out the first pitches to Carlos Delgado (Toronto Blue Jays) and Ivan Rodriguez (Texas Rangers).

What a great way to honor this historical event for Puerto Rico and Major League Baseball by having the wife of the legendary Roberto Clemente, who lost his life in quest  to help the people of Nicaragua and slugger Orlando Cepeda who had a great career in the major leagues and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

The game went on and Hiram Bithorn Stadium was packed with nearly 20,000 fans who love their "pelota" and were cheering on the many great Latinos playing in the game. Carlos Delgado went 1-4 and Alex Rodriguez went 2-4, respectively and Ivan Rodriguez showed why he is the best catcher in the game by throwing two runners at second base.

The Blue Jays won the game 8-1, but there weren't any losers in this game, because for the players and people of Puerto Rico this was a dream come true. 

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