The Ministry of Sports, the Baseball Federation and the Professional Baseball League has decided to create the Juan Marichal Award for outstanding Dominican baseball players in Major League Baseball starting in 2021, according to the digital newspaper Momento Deportivo RD.

Havana, October 13 (RHC)-- The Ministry of Sports, the Baseball Federation and the Professional Baseball League has decided to create the Juan Marichal Award for outstanding Dominican baseball players in Major League Baseball starting in 2021, according to the digital newspaper Momento Deportivo RD.

The award has the approval of the legendary player, the first Dominican in history to achieve immortality in Cooperstown.

Similar recognition is given in Venezuela to baseball players who play in the United States, but in that case it bears the name of the great Luis Aparicio.

Upon learning of the initiative, Marichal said: "It is an honor to have this privilege and I am very grateful that it bears my name. Count on me, but now I am in rehabilitation from an eye operation, so in November, God willing, I will be ready to travel wherever it is necessary," he said.

The first edition will be announced on October 31, but in the future, it will be announced every 20th of the same month and will be awarded at the beginning of December of each year.

The award is endorsed by the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball of the Dominican Republic and the Professional Confederation of the Caribbean.

It will be awarded through a vote by the Santo Domingo Sportswriters Association and will include Spanish-speaking journalists who cover U.S. baseball.