Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Carlos Martinez invited the St. Louis Six Flags cleaning crew to hang with him at Busch Stadium

Recently, Cardinals ace and apparent lover of roller coasters Carlos Martínez paid a visit to a Six Flags just outside St. Louis. While there, he made some new friends: specifically, 45 members of the Six Flags cleaning crew -- all Dominican, like Martinez.
Since he'd come to visit them at their place of work, it was only polite for them to do the same. So, prior to the Cardinals' game against the Reds on Monday afternoon, Martinez invited all of them out to Busch Stadium.

Everybody seemed to have an awesome time:

None had seen an MLB game before and Martinez covered the cost of all their tickets. 
"I went to Six Flags with my kids for a day and, since [the workers] are Dominican, they recognized me and approached me for a picture," the starter told MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch. "Then they got talking about their situation, talking about how they're here working and that it's been a hard adjustment. I am so used to helping with charities that it really touched me, especially since they were from the Dominican. They had never been to St. Louis. They had never been to a Cardinals game. So I wanted to help them and welcome them into the city and gift them these tickets."
"I really like giving back to the community and back to the kids I see myself reflected in," Martinez said. "Because when I was in that position or even when I was growing up, I had no one that mentored me, much less anyone that invited me to a big league game, not even in the Dominican League. God has put me in the position to be able to help and give back to the community."
This is hardly new for Martinez. Through his charitable foundation, Tsunami Waves, the righty has been giving back to St. Louis' Spanish-speaking communities for years.
The Cardinals also ended up winning the game, 8-2.

BarberJordan
beephero
AP_702417634020
NYC