SEATTLE -- Felix Hernandez, the longtime face of the Mariners, was wearing a broad smile Monday after becoming a United States citizen along with 74 other residents from 34 different countries at a ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Tukwila, Wash.
The 32-year-old Hernandez first came to the U.S. at 17 after being signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela by the Mariners in 2003. His wife, Sandra, passed the U.S. citizenship test last month and Hernandez joins her now as an American citizen.
"This country gave me everything," Hernandez said.