BURIEN, Wash. -- Julio Rodríguez may only be 23 years old and at the cusp of what could be a long MLB career, but the Mariners’ star center fielder is already preaching the importance of giving back.
During this holiday season, Rodríguez is spearheading a toy drive through the philanthropic organization he established earlier this year, No Limits Foundation, to aid underserved communities in both Seattle and his native Dominican Republic.
The initiative held its largest event so far earlier this month when Rodríguez welcomed fans at Rairdon’s Honda in Burien for a one-hour session, where he exchanged photos and autographs with dozens of fans for donations of toys and baseball and softball equipment.
Specifically, the donations made from mid-October through Thanksgiving will go to children in his hometown of Loma de Cabrera, and everything after that through the holiday season will go to those in the Puget Sound region, to youth-based charitable organizations that he will identify through guidance from the Mariners Care Foundation.
“It's not just me,” Rodríguez told MLB.com at the event, pointing to the fans in attendance and their generous gestures. “People from here in Seattle, everybody is kind of coming together. And I feel like that is such a beautiful thing to do. I hope that people, moving forward, keep cooperating, keep working together and keep building things like this, being able to reach out and help out people in need.”
Rodríguez estimates that the donations will impact 400 to 600 children in the D.R., where a massive giveaway will take place on one of the country’s most beloved holidays, Three Kings Day, held on Jan. 6 every year. The day marks the visit of the Three Wise Men (or Three Kings) to the newborn Jesus in Bethlehem, according to Christian tradition, and the day is especially focused on children.
Rodríguez says that for most children in the D.R. -- and certainly himself growing up -- it was celebrated as specially as Christmas, which represents more of a familial gathering than a gift-giving event in his homeland.
“Every time it was Three Kings Day, I was expecting a toy,” Rodríguez said. “I was expecting some sort of little gift for myself. And I just want to keep that tradition that was kind of brought on to me from my family, and just kind of spread out in my hometown, and just kind of keep doing that.”
The picture that Rodríguez and the Mariners shared in the immediate aftermath of him winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2022 -- Julio as a toddler hoisting a Spider-Man action figure -- was taken on Three Kings Day way back when.
“It's obviously about the kids on that day,” Rodríguez said. “They're the future. And I feel like anything that I can do to help out and just kind of create a smile on a kid’s face, I feel like that's something that I would like to do. Because that's what that day represented for me -- joy and giving back to the youth.”
The vessel behind the toy drive is No Limits Foundation, whose mission statement is “to create opportunities that inspire children to believe in their boundless potential, education and mentorship.” For all of his extensive interactions with fans over the past three seasons, enhanced through his outgoing personality, Rodríguez has consistently put an extra emphasis on connecting with kids.
Some of that is tied to that he still thinks of himself as one of them in so many ways.
“I'm so blessed and grateful to see everybody to be able to inspire and motivate so many people,” Rodríguez said. “Having little kids running around in my jersey, that's something that I've never really thought about when I was [growing up] in Loma de Cabrera. I feel like being able to see all those things that bring people a lot of joy, it motivates me to continue to keep going and doing the right thing.”
This isn’t the first large-scale charitable effort that Rodríguez has made since breaking into the Majors in 2022. During the offseason after his rookie year, Rodríguez donated an ambulance to the city of Loma de Cabrera, which he said was the town’s first. The toy drive is the first of what he hopes are many in the years to come.
For how far he’s come, and at such a rapid rate, Rodríguez still remembers where he hails -- perhaps because he’s not so far removed from the path that got him here.