Not counting spring training or the postseason, Eddie Pérez stands for the national anthem 162 times a year. But for Pérez, the Braves bench coach and former catcher, it is anything but a formality.
Pérez stands ramrod straight. He looks up at the American flag. His left arm hangs by his side. He crisply holds his cap over his chest. He stands still, not shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
He is showing respect.
“Not to myself, but to people here, all the veterans, all the military people,” Pérez told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I always get mad when I see a player moving right in the middle of the national anthem.”
Born and raised in Venezuela, Pérez, his wife, Marisol, and his daughter, Maried, became naturalized U.S. citizens in 2014. (Pérez’s son, Andres, was born in the U.S.) The coach’s posture for the anthem, to say nothing of his life, communicates that citizenship is not something they take lightly.
“I think (citizenship) means everything (to him),” Maried said of her father. “He’s so proud to be an American — so, so proud. And it’s beautiful to see that as an immigrant — see an immigrant come here, work really hard, work through that American dream. It’s super inspiring just as his daughter, seeing him achieve that American dream.”
We are a nation of immigrants, people who arrived in this country pursuing dreams and opportunity for them and their descendants. Pérez’s gratitude for his citizenship, expressed in his respectful attention for the anthem, is a beautiful reminder of how precious it is.
Pérez arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela in 1987 at the age of 18, having been offered $15,000 by the Braves. He spoke only a few words of English. He learned the language by listening to music and reading the newspaper.
He played nine seasons in the minors — a long time to persevere without reaching the majors — before finally getting called up by the Braves in 1995.
The wait was rewarded.
He earned a spot on the postseason roster for the team’s first World Series title in Atlanta. It was the start of an 11-year career in the majors, mostly with the Braves as a backup catcher. He was the MVP of the 1999 NLCS.
Pérez married Marisol in 1991. Maried was born in Venezuela in 1994. Andres arrived in 1998, born in Atlanta.
After Maried was born, the family moved to the U.S. As they grew roots, the reasons to return to Venezuela grew fewer. Hugo Chávez’s authoritarian regime, the faltering economy and the growing crime rate only cemented their commitment to staying, as many foreign professional athletes do after a long career in the U.S.
His playing career ended in 2006, but he has remained a part of the Braves organization, primarily as a coach with the major-league team.
Pérez received a green card in 2004 after a process of several years, granting permanent U.S. residency. He, Marisol and Maried received their citizenship in 2014. (Maried remembers a cram session with her dad the night before the citizenship test to make sure he could pass.)
The ceremony was recorded and later played on the video board at Turner Field. Watching it from the Braves bullpen, Pérez cried.
“I feel that the United States has been giving me too much already,” he said at the time. “It’s my job; it’s my life. I live here. I give a good education to my kids. ... I think (citizenship) was our next step, we just never had the chance to do it. I feel so proud.”
He asked a friend in the military to show him how to stand for the anthem. Former Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson also taught him what he learned as a collegian at Vanderbilt, where every year, coach Tim Corbin instructs players on the appropriate stance — left arm down by the side, hand in a loose fist, right hand on the heart, hat covering the left shoulder, tall posture with shoulders back, standing still.
It is so distinctive that “every time I see a player doing it, I say, ‘You went to Vanderbilt?’” Pérez said. “He’s like, ‘Yeah.’”
And Pérez’s own posture is such that he said that people will ask him if he was in the Marines.
His response: “No, it’s just respecting the national anthem.”
What the Pérez family left behind in Venezuela only deepens their appreciation for life in America. Even things as simple as going grocery shopping or being able to sample the diversity of the country through restaurants with different cuisines is not taken for granted.
“That’s a wonderful American experience you can’t get anywhere else,” Maried said.
An experience worth standing for.
“Every time he stands there during the national anthem, I know he’s also reflecting on that journey,” Maried said. “It’s so beautiful to see him reflect that, and we kind of do, too.”
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