Students at Minnie Miñoso Academy get lesson on school's namesake for Hispanic Heritage Month
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hispanic heritage came to life for a group of Bridgeport students this week with a special guest appearance at their school.
Minnie Miñoso Academy is named after the late White Sox icon, and his son wants to make sure students there know exactly who the Hall of Famer is.
As Miñoso Academy principal Carrie Coles welcomed Miñoso's son, Charlie Rice-Miñoso, to school this week, she showed off her own memorabilia of the former White Sox star nicknamed "The Cuban Comet."
A native of Cuba, Miñoso played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball over five different decades, 12 of them with the White Sox – including a stint in 1976 at age 52 and again in 1980 at age 56, making him the fourth oldest player in MLB history.
A nine-time All Star, he thrived on the field after overcoming racism as a Black Cuban.
"The school is almost divided 50/50 into our Hispanic/Latino population and African American population," Coles said. "Having Charlie here as his son is really special to us."
Rice-Miñoso got some school swag before heading to a classroom for the real purpose of his visit: helping kindergarteners understand their school is named after a real human being, and reading them a story.
The kids quietly listened as Rice-Miñoso read "Pepe and the Parade: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage," and gave him a round of applause at the end, before smiling for a photo with him and leaving with a better understanding the name on their school.
"I hope the kids take away that it's important to honor your heritage," Rice-Miñoso.
Rice-Miñoso attended the renaming ceremony for the school last year. He returned this week to help students learn about his father's legacy.
"He'd be very proud," he said.
Rice-Miñoso also wanted to set the record straight about spelling and pronouncing Miñoso.
"American newspapers couldn't incorporate the ñ of his name, and so they Americanized to just Minoso," he said.
The family wants everyone to know that it's actually Miñoso, pronounced min-YOH-soh, not min-OH-soh.
"It's a small but very meaningful way of properly recognizing his heritage, and his family name, and where he comes from."
Most fans probably also don't know Minnie's first name is actually Orestes. Minnie was just a nickname he was given after coming to play in the U.S., and Rice-Miñoso said his father always said "just call me Minnie."
"And so, thus my dad became named in the U.S. Minnie Minoso from Orestes Miñoso," Rice-Miñoso said.
So now the students and baseball fans have a better understanding of "The Cuban Comet."
Miñoso died in 2015, six years before he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Next month, his family will mark what would have been his 100th birthday.
