Over the weekend, USA Today published an article that highlighted Edwin Diaz's ties to cockfighting in PR. Previously, cockfighting, while illegal, had a legal loophole for PR that allowed people who were caught doing it to not be punished. That loophole was closed in 2018. Even quotes from Diaz about cockfighting from recent years show that it is something he supports.
"It’s a pastime I’ve followed since I was a child. It’s legal in Puerto Rico, thank God. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here."
While I feel like a lot of articles accusing players of X, Y, or Z tend to fall into a few buckets. They are either problematic players who do not have a great public image, the accusations rely on a single source or two, or the event itself is more or less a one-time spur-of-the-moment issue. The USA Today article showed that this was none of those.
According to the article, Diaz was attending a multi-fight tournament during which his family entered four roosters.
An article published in January 2018 by Primera Hora, a newspaper in Puerto Rico, reported that Diaz fought five roosters at a cockfighting club in San Juan. The story also reported that Martín Maldonado, then a major league catcher with the Los Angeles Angels who has since retired, fought eight roosters.
In describing one fight, Primera Hora reported, "Suddenly, Díaz's rooster took a 'knife wound' and fell to its knees, causing the fence judge to activate the one-minute count ..."
The rooster came back aggressively and won the fight, according to the article, which quoted Diaz saying, "My rooster went down dead and got up to fight, doing what my roosters know how to do: finish fights. He did what I do when I come in to pitch in the ninth: to close out the game."
Paintings of Diaz and Maldonado, with Diaz wearing a Mets jersey and Maldonado wearing an Astros jersey, are on a wall above cases holding roosters inside the Club Gallistico de Naguabo, a video posted on Facebook in 2024 shows.
Seeing Maldy, the nickname given to Martin Maldonado by Astros fans, caught up in this is really disappointing, but it goes without saying that he, too, should be investigated by MLB since he now works for the Atlanta Braves Front Office.
When the NFL faced an animal abuse scandal with Michael Vick and his dog fighting, the NFL was quick to act, even though Vick at the time was one of the NFL's biggest stars. The same should apply here. Diaz appeared in ads for cockfighting while wearing LA Dodgers uniforms, which only makes it so much worse.
However, neither the team nor the league has done or said anything. Right now, with Diaz on the injured list, it makes me wonder whether they are hoping this dies down and they do not have to act, which should not at all be the approach here. Thankfully, calls are growing louder to force MLB to act, as MLB does not need someone to be under investigation or convicted to launch its own investigation or issue suspensions, fines, etc.
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