Hispanic Heritage Night

I have to admit, I wait for this one all season. It's like my Christmas in September. I love Hispanic Heritage Night at Nationals Par. The music, the dancing, the PA announcements in Spanish -- it's a perfect celebration of the Latino influence in baseball. On Friday, the Nationals will honor Hispanic culture, as they do every season during Hispanic Heritage Month, with a pre-game flag ceremony highlighting each Hispanic player's home country including Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Washington Nationals Opera tenor José Ortega will sing the National Anthem and El Zol 99.1FM's Pedro Biaggi from "Pedro Biaggi en la Manana" will make the "Play Ball!" Announcement. The Starting 9 and Ceremonial First Pitch will also feature children from the Latin American Youth Center. Throughout the game, various video tributes will be shown honoring Hispanic baseball greats like Juan Marichal, Martin Dinigo, Rod Carew, Luis Aparicio and Orlando Cepeda. A special menu will be offered in the PNC Diamond Club and Red Porch Restaurant. Fans can watch Hispanic dancers in the Center Field Plaza or take salsa lessons at the Miller Lite Scoreboard Walk. Someone should check to see if our salsa dancing radio broadcasters make it down for those lessons.