Runs, hits, errors, homers and Flying Chanclas

          Wagner Lagrange, left, and Manny Rodriguez play for the Brooklyn Jefes (bosses), otherwise known the Cyclones. "It's the mentality that you're in charge, you're the boss, because you're from Brooklyn," said Cyclones GM Kevin Mahoney on selecting the name. Courtesy of Brooklyn Cyclones
          • Julio Ricardo Varela, Special to ESPN.com
          Oct 12, 2018, 10:25 PM

          Read the Spanish-language version of this story here.

          When the Corpus Christi Raspas played the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio this summer, perhaps the lasting, indelible image amid the pomp of a typical minor league game was one of a blue flip-flop flying in the air.

          Never mind games between the El Paso Chihuahuas and the Mariachis de Nuevo México, the Las Vegas Reyes de Plata against the Abejas de Salt Lake, and the Rancho Cucamonga Temblores versus the Visalia Toros. Or the Brooklyn Jefes locking horns with the Chivos de Hartford. Those Raspas (snow cones), wearing uniforms featuring a multi-flavored icy treat (cup and plastic spoon included) didn't stand a chance against the Flying Chanclas.

          In fact, 33 teams donned the distinctive jerseys and played a combined total of 165 games this season in Minor League Baseball's "Copa de Diversión" ("Fun Cup") series, which MiLB said was to "visually celebrate the diversity that defines MiLB communities nationwide," with the creation of "culturally relevant on-field personas that honor their respective U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities that are building, shaping and leading MiLB markets today."

          In other words, as yet another sports league is being more explicit of the fact that, yes, U.S. Latinos are the future of spectator sports in this country, MiLB is taking it one step further: It's OK to have a little fun with it.

          The trend to attract more Latino is nothing new: the NBA and the NFL have been doing it for years. So has MLB, which is currently celebrating various efforts -- Ponle Acento jerseys ('Put an Accent on it') worn during batting practice, for example -- throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, culminating on Oct. 15.

          But with all these current efforts getting more and more common, never in my wildest dreams did I think that a cultural symbol of such fear -- the flying sandal -- would become part of a baseball uniform actually worn by professional players, but here we are. And maybe it's time to admit that such a move is not only perfectly fine in 2018, it's actually a sign that more nuanced representations of U.S. Latino culture continue to whirl into the mainstream, just like, wait for it, a chancla.

          The San Antonio Missions selected the chanclas in honor of the matriarch of the Latino family, the abuelita (grandmother). Ask any Hispanic kid about that chancla, utilized as a tool for discipline, and you would understand how well-behaved they'd turn out. "The chancla has long been symbolic of the Abuelita as she maintains the structure and order of la familia," says the Missions' statement. Just don't be on the receiving end of that chancla.

          Yet despite the fun behind some of the teams' new Latino alter egos, no idea is perfect, and for every Flying Chancla, you have the Everett Conquistadores (not a popular figure in the context of Latin American history) or the Hillsboro Lúpulos, a literal translation for the Hillsboro Hops. One has to cringe when hearing team names such as the Greenville Energía (for the Greenville Drive), the Kane County Cougars (they remained the same, the Kane County Cougars), the Rápidos de Kannapolis (for the Kannapolis Intimidators), the Lehigh Valley Tocino (for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs) and the Cielo Azul de Oklahoma City (for the Oklahoma City Dodgers).

          Still, MiLB should be applauded for making a big deal of its "Copa de Diversión." There is no doubt that some teams (yes, you, Flying Chanclas) could become sports cult classics helping to redefine the intersection between sports and culture. At least MiLB is trying as it reached out to the community for help. MiLB is realizing that professional sports leagues need U.S. Latinos to thrive, so why not try to capture some fan loyalty now?

          Because in the end, if this campaign leads to the permanent arrival of the Flying Chanclas into this world, then this was all worth it.