There’s big news coming out of Venezuela and this time it isn’t about the crowning of Ivian Sarcos as the new Miss World.
Normally when the authorities are involved with a Major League Baseball players, the crime usually pertains to performance-enhancing drugs or assaults of the domestic or drunken bar variety.
However MLB crime news coming out of Venezuela is not nearly so run-of-the-mill. Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped from his home in the city of Santa Ines. The catcher, who just finished a successful rookie season, returned to his native home in South America at the end of the 2011 regular season. Ramos’ home was invaded by armed intruders who took him away in an SUV. His family has yet to be contacted by the kidnappers.
While Ramos is the first MLB player to be kidnapped in Venezuela, it is not completely uncommon for the family members of professional athletes there to be targets of kidnapping plots. This kidnapping case isn’t as unusual as the abduction of actor Jeremy London.
Hopefully Ramos’ family won’t have to wait 23 years to be reunited with their loved one.