Snapshot: John Burkett
01:00 AM EDT on Monday, August 25, 2003
What Luis Tiant and David Ortiz endured and overcame was not unlike what
John Burkett experienced when he left the U.S. for winter ball in
Venezuela in 1989.
"When I got there with my girfriend, who is my wife now, we were
shocked," said Burkett. "Nobody spoke English. We were lucky, though,
that there were seven or eight Americans who already had been there for
a month and already had learned some Spanish.
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AP photo
Boston pitcher John Burkett discovered the problems of speaking a foreign language when he played winter ball in Venezuela in 1989.
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"It was like coming onto the TV show Survivor 20 days into it -- like
they already had built the shelter and knew how to get the food. So when
we got there, they helped us out, ordering us food and things like that.
"We got good about speaking Spanish by the end of the seven weeks we
spent there," said Burkett. "I wasn't bilingual by any means, but I was
able to get by."
The experience was an eye opener for Burkett, helping him understand
what foreign-born players feel when they arrive in this country.
"I think a lot of guys now have a better appreciation for what the Latin
players go through because so many of us go over there to play in the
winter," said Burkett. "It's tough."
-- STEVEN KRASNER
