Mariano Rivera Advocates For Learning English

The New York Yankees’ Hall of Fame reliever Mariano Rivera recently was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump at the White House, and during the ceremony Rivera spoke about the importance of learning English.

Rivera, who was born in Panama, told President Trump and the White House audience that he began his big league career in the Yankees’ minor league system without knowing a word of English. In his 2nd year in the minors Rivera asked his teammates to teach him English, and by the end of that season he had sufficiently immersed himself in the language to be able to converse with his teammates in English.

“I was the happiest man in baseball,” Rivera recalled. “Learning English is the first thing we should do.”

ProEnglish has recently reported on other superstar athletes who have learned English, included baseball players Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish, along with golfer Joaquin Niemann:

http://proenglish.org/2019/09/16/ichiro-gives-farewell-speech-in-english/

http://proenglish.org/2019/02/28/yu-darvish-learns-english-for-media-interviews/

http://proenglish.org/2019/02/04/pga-star-learns-english/

ProEnglish commends Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera for his bold advocacy about the importance of learning English, and congratulates him on receiving the very prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom.