Sergio Romo, born to Mexican parents in Imperial Valley, had baseball in his blood. His grandfather and father both played in an amateur league in Mexico, and Sergio would too, pitching in Mexicali at age 14. Just a kid facing down adults, he’s said that the experience “helped create a lot of backbone in this smaller frame.” But unable to get scholarship offers from four-year colleges, he had to play at a junior college instead. And despite his lineage, he wasn’t drafted until pick number 852, in a round that doesn’t even exist anymore.
Relying on that backbone, he converted to a reliever in the minors and at age 25, he fulfilled his promise to his father by playing Major League Baseball, debuting for San Francisco on June 26, 2008.