Expression

Approx. time

Explanation

Atlanta Braves

1:08

MLB team in Atlanta, GA

Kansas City Royals

1:10

MLB team in Kansas City, MO

on the roster 

1:12

official list of team members

drafted me

1:25

chose me (through the selection process for new professional players) to play with their team

the Big League

1:32

Major League Baseball (MLB)

still have goosebumps

1:54

excitement when the hairs on your skin stand up

take nothing for granted 

1:56

don’t relax or assume everything will be easy

defected (from Cuba) 

2:18

to escape a country without government permission

Everything else is history.

2:56

The rest of the story is well known.

slipped away

4:12

left secretly, without anyone noticing

Hugo Chavez

4:34

President of Venezuela from 1999-2013

Fidel Castro 

4:45

Communist leader of Cuba from 1959-2008

pay back

5:57

return good deeds when you have received good deeds

take things for granted

7:30

relax, don’t work hard, and assume everything will be easy

get to know

7:40

take time and begin to learn about someone (or something)

traitor 

8:13

someone who is disloyal to his/her country

turn their back on me

8:42

ignore me, forget I exist, disown me

opened their arms 

8:46

welcomed warmly

vice-versa 

9:40

the other way around (Americans understanding Cuban jokes)

clubhouse 

9:56

building for the team’s players to dress, eat, meet, and relax

make fun of each other 

10:01

teasing, joking with each other

50% Latino

10:29

half of 40-man team roster is Spanish speaking

Venezuela, Dominican (Republic), Cuba, Curaçao

11:20

Caribbean countries with MLB players

at the end of the day 

11:29

in the final analysis, the bottom line

off the field

11:36

in public, away from the stadium, in real life

career in jeopardy

11:38

risk hurting or losing your career

Cubano

12:25

Spanish for “Cuban person”

open yourself to

B-2:16

be ready to accept (new things)

can make it

B-2:40

can succeed