Asian Spotting: Filipinos Geno Espineli, Tim Lincecum Play for Giants

July 31, 2008

Espineli's parents are immigrants and he and his siblings were born and raised in Houston. He's a relief pitcher for the Giants who was just called up from the minors.

Lincecum, a starting pitcher, was recently featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and is one of the rising stars for the Giants.

There have been a number of Big League players who've been part Filipino. Benny Agbayani is a recent one who comes to mind.

It's great to see more Asians and Asian Americans in the majors, though the players from Asia still outnumber those from the United States. I've always been curious about this and have never come up with a reason why there wouldn't be more Asian Americans baseball players.

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Contributor:

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Jay wrote on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 3:27am

Just came across this blog after finding out late that Lincecum is half Filipino at his Cy Young presscon when he thanked the community for its support. A Giant winning the Cy Young is like the second biggest thing ever to that elusive World Championship, and his hyphenatedness is extra sauce.

Yumi wrote on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 6:01pm

Thank you for the informative story!

Eric wrote on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 10:28pm

According to Scripps News article, Lincecum's mom is only half-Filipina. His grandpa was Filipino and passed away last July.The article is at:http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/26181Here's the section with the reference to his Grandpa:Turns out he was pitching with a heavy heart -- it was Lincecum's first outing since returning from bereavement leave, as his maternal grandfather passed away last week -- and was simply living in the moment.He also apologized to reporters gathered around his locker Wednesday afternoon."It was my fault," he said of not facing the music. "I had a lot of stuff in my head."Such as the passing of his grandpa, whose first name he did not know how to spell."I just called him Grandpa Asis, because that's his last name," Lincecum said. "It's Filipino."

Harry wrote on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 10:59pm

Thanks, Eric, for the clarification.

nana wrote on Mon, 08/11/2008 - 8:14am

Tim's mom is full blooded Filipina

Anonymous wrote on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 3:27pm

tim is hot

Harry wrote on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 3:59pm

Thanks for info, Nana. Either way, he's a great pitcher. I hope he's OK after getting hit by a line drive yesterday.