The Arizona law, known as SB 1070, went into effect in September. Six months later, half the players in baseball have reported to the greater Phoenix area. More than one-quarter of those players are Latino. Even though every one of them is fully documented, SB 1070 has made major leaguers into unwitting test subjects and spring training into a simulated game of “Who looks suspicious?” “The Dominican ballplayer that speaks Spanish, in the eyes of some, that’s ‘reasonable suspicion,’” says Raul Grijalva, a Democratic U.S. congressman from Tucson.
“I got a driver’s license,” Herrera says. Every time Herrera ventures outside the ballpark, he makes sure he takes it with him. Talk to Latino players in Arizona and you find them constantly patting their pockets for licenses, green cards, passports.
“I carry them all the time,” says Martin Prado, a Venezuelan-born third baseman with the Diamondbacks. “Just in case. You never know.”
“My brother just came in from the Dominican,” says Ubaldo Jimenez, a pitcher with the Indians. “The first thing I told him was, ‘You have to carry your passport. You don’t want to end up in jail.’”
“Before, you didn’t take your passport with you,” says Yorvit Torrealba, a Venezuelan catcher with the Rockies. “You didn’t need to. But now, everybody is so panicky about this thing that you take it everywhere.”