Thursday, August 21

SEATTLE -- Julio Rodríguez was meandering through the streets of Cabarete in the Dominican Republic during some down time during his philanthropic voyage to his homeland last January when he stumbled on a scene that was as sobering as it was squalid. 

And in that happenstance encounter, the Mariners center fielder was reminded why he was there in the first place -- to give back to the people who need it most in the place he adores the most -- and took immediate initiative. 

"That's when we decided that, 'Man, I cannot leave this place and not do something about it,'” Rodríguez said. “I feel like God is going to punish me if I do. He brought me here for a reason, completely out of the blue.”

What Rodríguez discovered was an elderly woman whose home was quite literally in shambles due to recent flooding one month prior that left it seemingly uninhabitable. Yet, here she was -- Agripina Polanco -- living in these conditions in the entire span since the environmental forces struck, with her grandson, who Rodríguez estimated was 12 or 13 years old.

The house’s skeleton was cracked down the middle from the roof to the front doorframe, where a door was replaced by a bedrest, which was moved aside each time someone needed to enter or exit. 

Rubble from landfill was scattered across the floor, necessary to block out the flooding, which quite literally shrunk the living space from the ground up, to the point where 6-foot-3 Rodríguez was forced to crouch for the entirety of his visit.

A barely operating refrigerator was perched on cinder blocks. No one was sure if there was running water, but they guessed it was unlikely.

“Julio goes in there,” said Brian Mejia, one of Rodríguez’s business representatives at Octagon and who was also present, “and he's like, ‘Oh my god, Brian. Like, this lady can't live in these conditions.’ It was really damp and wet. It was dark. It was just not livable.”

Seven months later, as Rodríguez and the rest of MLB embarks on Players' Weekend -- a league initiative that celebrates players’ on-field personas, off-the-field interests, charitable efforts and more -- he shared this story in an effort to raise awareness to the challenges that the less fortunate experience in his homeland, and hopefully, generate more aid to those who need it.

Three Kings Day

Rodríguez was in the D.R. for the annual Jan. 6 celebration of Three Kings Day, the pinnacle of the holiday season in many Central and South American countries, which recognizes the visit of the Three Wise Men (or Three Kings) to the newborn Jesus in Bethlehem, according to Christian tradition. 

The day is especially focused on children, which was the demographic of those he wanted to help. The visit represented the culmination of a months-long toy and athletic equipment drive, which began in Seattle in November, continued in the D.R. and ultimately led to donations of close to 1,000 boys and girls in his hometown of Loma de Cabrera.

Rodríguez’s efforts were aided by the Mariners Care Foundation and many of his corporate sponsors in the U.S., as well as his own initiative -- No Limits Foundation, which he established in 2023 and whose mission statement is “to create opportunities that inspire children to believe in their boundless potential, education and mentorship.”

Over the six-day visit through NLF, many of the events were publicized to raise awareness for donations from fans and other community members. 

But the interaction with Polanco was not, at least at first, because of how organically it came together.

A blended effort with Vic Blends

Celebrity barber and social media personality Vic Blends has become one of Rodríguez’s good buddies away from the ballpark, having first connected in Spring Training in 2024. 

With over 18 million followers on various social media platforms, Blends is a superstar in his industry, having cut the hair of celebrities such as Barack Obama, Steve-O, Big Sean and countless NBA players. These meetups are paired with a broader conversation with the recipient in an almost podcast-type presentation.

And Blends, too, has a philanthropic heart, which is why Rodríguez invited him to tag along for his excursion in the D.R. Blends offered free haircuts to many in attendance on Three Kings Day and broadcast the events to his massive audiences. 

It was during one of those free haircuts that Rodríguez and his group discovered Polanco and her grandson. 

After the Three Kings Day event, the group trekked to Cabarete, a popular beach town four hours away on the D.R.’s northern coast. During some down time, Blends -- a native of Fayetteville, N.C. -- wanted to see the sights, but also connect with locals by offering more free haircuts.

Through one of the more blighted neighborhoods, they met Polanco’s grandson, who plays baseball and who’s come to root for Rodríguez and the Mariners from afar. 

Rodríguez then asked the grandson where he lived, leading him to the stunned realization of the habitat they called a home.

Rebuilding "literally everything"

Polanco had no idea of Rodríguez’s celebrity, so when he shared his intentions, he said that at first “she was a little skeptical.”

“There are always a lot of people that say that they're going to do things and never really do it,” Rodríguez said. “Or kind of just say it just to say. I gave her reassurances.”

Mejia, who grew up in Miami but whose parents were from the area, had extensive contacts in Puerta Plata to get the ball rolling. His father reached out to a friend who’s a construction contractor that shared a budget and timeline. Rodríguez didn’t hesitate and immediately agreed to finance the endeavor, while putting up Polanco and her grandson in a nearby apartment until the project was complete.

“From the roof to doors to A/C to televisions, refrigerators, stove, lighting, landscaping,” Mejia said, beginning to tear up. “I mean, Julio rebuilt the home. The only thing that was still from the original home was like the four walls and beams. But everything else, I mean, windows, bathrooms, shower -- I mean, literally everything.”

The roughly 700-square-foot structure was ready for Polanco and her grandson to move back in after three to four months. And the day they did, she FaceTimed Rodríguez, wearing a Mariners T-shirt, in a powerful moment that brought her to tears.

What’s next for No Limits Foundation

Rodríguez returns home every offseason and has done so in grand fashion, being front and center for a massive parade celebrating his American League Rookie of the Year Award after the 2022 season and donating an ambulance to Loma de Cabrera’s civil defense headquarters on the same trip.

This offseason -- which he hopes comes after another Mariners playoff run -- Rodríguez will rebuild the baseball fields that he grew up on in Loma de Cabrera while also turning it into a much larger-scale complex. 

Specifically, NLF will add multiple fields to the complex and with a variety of dimensions to facilitate all age groups, from youth to elderly, as well as softball and soccer. 

“They think of just a guy coming back to fix the field that he played on, but it's more than that,” Mejia said. “He’s trying to help the community have a space where all kids can play, girls and boys included.”

The current facility, Mejia said, “is really banged up” and hasn’t undergone maintenance of any kind in some time, if ever. The environment in the central D.R. is incredibly dry, compared to Puerta Plata on the coast that deals with flooding, which makes grass difficult to grow, so the playing surface essentially features more dirt than field. There’s also no lighting to allow for activity at night. And the bathrooms either don’t work or are barely functional.

Rodríguez intends to continue his philanthropic efforts throughout his career, and the next will be the loftiest.

“I feel like that's kind of become a theme for me,” Rodríguez said, “just to be able to do events like that, like I do in my hometown. And just like whenever I see something that I can help, I'm definitely going to try my best to lend a hand.”

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