The Phillies' current 25-man roster contains as many players from Venezuela (6) as from California, Texas and Florida combined. In all, there are 12 Phillies of Hispanic descent, including the team's leaders in batting average, home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, wins and ERA.
All that represents a high-water mark in both quality and quantity for a franchise whose history with non-Anglo ballplayers dates back 81 years but who until recently failed to capitalize on that enormous talent resource.
While National League rivals such as the Cardinals, Pirates and Giants were riding Latino players to pennants and world championships, the Phillies were slow to dip their toes into the Caribbean.