It’s the 1960s in Southern California. Vin Scully’s voice is on the radio. The Dodgers are good. Really good.
As romance in baseball goes, Rick Renteria’s first memories of the sport are perfect.
“I just remember my dad always listening to the games on the radio. Growing up in Los Angeles, he was a big Dodger fan,” Renteria said. “That's how I first started getting exposed to Major League Baseball was through the games on the radio. I was a huge fan of (Vin Scully). Huge fan.”
Baseball purists can relate and be envious at the same time. Renteria is living the dream of every little leaguer. He grew up playing baseball in local parks, was good enough to play professionally, made it to the Majors and is now the manager of the Chicago White Sox.
But the world outside that radio blasting Scully’s voice was much different. Renteria was raised in Compton. There was gang violence. There was racism. When he was three years old, the Watts riots broke out nearby.
Today, Renteria’s life has changed dramatically, but in many ways, the world around him is the same. His story is one of opportunity and, as a father, he wanted to give his children the same opportunity, understanding that success only came from hard work.
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MLB
Salvador and Angela Renteria emigrated from Mexico to California in the late 1950s, around the same time the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn. They had nine children, but Rick, wedged in the middle, was the first born in the United States.
For the Renterias, there was work, and there was baseball.
“We just played when we could,” Renteria said. “I started working when I was little boy so it was kind of a mixture of being able to play while still being able to help the family like all of us did at that time.”
The love of baseball came from his father, and Renteria benefitted from being able to watch his four older brothers play.
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“My dad was always a big baseball fan. All my older brothers played recreational ball. I remember him taking me to watch them as a toddler,” Renteria said. “And then I ended up playing little league ball in Compton, my first exposure to organized baseball of any type. And I really enjoyed it.”
It was common for Renteria’s father to take him to the public parks, hit him ground balls “and play a little Pepper,” but his mother was usually the one shuttling the kids around, so she would get involved too. In fact, she was the one working with Renteria the day a local coach realized his talent.
“The first time I was ever actually seen as a little boy, my mom was actually playing with us at a place called Oaks Park in Compton,” Renteria said. “So she was out there playing with us and pitching to us and things of that nature, and one of the coaches -- I didn't know he was a coach -- was clearing the field a little bit and came over and asked if I'd be interested in playing. So that's how I started.”
Renteria’s ability stood out and his parents realized it.
“I think that they just saw that I had a particular knack and skill that they didn't see in most,” he said.
Renteria wasn’t able to go to many Dodgers games growing up – he remembers one particular trip when he and his friends took the No. 9 bus from South Gate High School to Dodger Stadium – but he was about to enter into a new life of essentially living at the ballpark. He was drafted 20th overall out of high school in 1980 by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played for the Pirates, Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins with a few minor league stops and a Mexican League stint sprinkled in. After his playing days were over, Renteria coached in the minors for a decade before joining the San Diego Padres coaching staff in 2008. In 2014, he finally got his opportunity to manage at the Major League level when the Cubs hired him, but that only last one year when Joe Maddon became available. Finally, in 2017, the White Sox promoted him to manager in what has become a much more permanent position.
Today, Renteria has a well-known reputation for spending long hours at the ballpark. His hard work has never worn off and he continues to credit his parents’ sacrifices.
“(They) created an opportunity,” he said. “I think that was the whole purpose, right? You migrate hoping for a better position or situation. So I was born here and it ended up happening for me.”
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Renteria’s father didn’t have big conversations with his kids about racism, in part because, as Renteria puts it, “I think you're just around certain things as you're growing up.”
“Not only myself, my older brothers, there have been experiences that were not nice to have and so we can speak of things --- we kind of understand it,” he said.
Renteria was only three when the Watts riots broke out in Los Angeles, but he remembers their impact.
“I do remember, and I've talked to my wife about it. She was living in Watts at the time when all this stuff was going on,” he said. “We all in a way saw a lot of the stuff that was going on -- a lot of the chaos that can be created by injustice.”
That was 1965; 55 years later, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and calls for change all over the country, Renteria is trying to be hopeful.
“It's kind of disheartening to see,” he said. “It's not that one hasn't been exposed to it in our younger lives, we've all seen it. And I'm sure there's a course-correction taking place at this particular time. Whether we like it or not, it's part of an evolving society and hopefully we can all come together and do what's right by each other.”
As a member of the White Sox, Renteria is proud of players like shortstop Tim Anderson speaking up and the organization bringing light to injustice with Kenny Williams’ emotional SoxTV interview.
“The reality is that we have to look at what's been going on and I believe that any organization has an opportunity to use their strength to deal with real, every day issues and I'm proud to be part of an organization where we have young men that are speaking the truth -- their truth,” Renteria said. “I know that term is used kind of loosely at times but when you see everything that is going on, whether people want to accept it for what it is or not, it's a cry. It's a cry for correction. And there are a lot of people that are trying to do the right thing, I believe.”
Renteria’s children are older now, but as a father, he picked his moments to have tough conversations with his kids.
“When we get to these points, you deal with them. In general, I've tried to deal with things through example and in some instances maybe some subtle conversations, but I want people to see things for themselves and wanted my kids to see things for themselves as opposed to having a huge conversation about something,” Renteria said.
Even with reporters, Renteria doesn’t often stray away from talking baseball, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t physically doing work to impact the community. Both he and his wife, Ilene, came from tough backgrounds, which is why they started Club 17 to support Chicago’s inner-city youth. They take time to visit with kids from Mercy Home, a Chicago-area charity that provides shelter for abused and neglected children.
“At the end of the day, we're all the same and I think that we should be treated that way,” Renteria said. “Dignity and respect for your fellow man should be the primary course and the topic of the day, but we also have to recognize when we're not doing what's correct and balanced and make adjustments."
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As Renteria bounced around from team-to-team as a player, even playing in Mexico for a few years, Ilene typically stayed in Temecula, Calif. with their four kids. But as he experienced a Major League resurgence with the Florida Marlins in 1993 and 1994, the Renterias decided to bring the whole family to Miami one summer.
“Joey, my oldest, I mean he was having his joy being back in California where we lived at the time and probably wanted to be around his friends and do normal things, play ball over there,” Renteria said. “He was pretty upset because kids, as they get older, they start experiencing their own things of which I understand. And they have an opportunity to just live normal lives.”
As glamorous as being a Major Leaguer can be, it’s not easy for players to be away from their children. But Renteria was able to watch his four kids become athletes themselves: Joe went on to play collegiate baseball; Anthony made it into the Padres’ farm system; Michael became a swimmer; and Rick's daughter, Alexandria, played a little softball before turning to dance. Joe eventually joined the Navy and is now a petty officer first class at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago.
As a father, there’s a lot for Renteria to be proud of, and although his parenting experience has been much different than his father’s, the sacrifices are a common thread.
“We tried the best we could to give them as normal a life as possible,” Rick said of his kids. “Ilene stayed back a lot with them to allow them to have those experiences, and then hopefully all we imparted to them was an understanding of the great opportunity we've been given because of the sacrifices of our parents.”
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