ATLANTA — Mauricio Dubón has become one of the few Honduran-born players to make a lasting mark in Major League Baseball, and his father says the attention back home has turned into a source of pride. Danilo Dubón said it is an honor when people call his son the best athlete in Honduran history, adding that the Atlanta Braves infielder stays humble and does not lose focus.
“Se lo digo, es un orgullo que pase uno y lo reconozca, que están hablando. Sí me siento orgulloso, digo, ‘¿Cómo ha puesto el nombre de alto en Honduras’,” Danilo Dubón said. He also said, “No es que no entienda, sino que él no piensa en esto. Piensa en jugar y hacer bien las cosas.” Mauricio Dubón is 31 and has already won two Gold Glove Awards after stops with the Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros and now Atlanta.
His father said he hopes the next step is an All-Star Game for his son. “Queremos un Juego de Estrellas,” Danilo Dubón said, describing a player who has stayed grounded even as his profile has grown. He said he often hears from people he does not know who recognize Mauricio’s name, a change that has given the family a new kind of visibility. “He platicado con mucha gente que no conocemos y me pregunta, ¿compa?, me dice, ‘Sí’ le digo, ‘Yo lo sigo’,” he said.
Danilo Dubón traced that rise back to childhood in Honduras, saying Mauricio started playing baseball when he was 7 in the colonia Tara and alternated it with soccer in Colvisula. He said his son began training more seriously at about 5 or 6 years old and liked working with older children from an early age. “Cuando nace su hermano mayor, igual, al campo,” he said, recalling how the boy was always headed back to the field. Mauricio also played every position he could, from center field and left field to right field, shortstop, first base, second base, third base and catcher. “Todas, en todas jugaba bien. Hasta catcher era,” Danilo Dubón said.
The family story also includes one early warning that turned into a prediction. Danilo Dubón said a Nicaraguan coach told him Mauricio had potential when he was about 10 or 11 years old. Later, he said, a Christian mission took him on scholarship and he was signed by the Red Sox. “¿Quién iba a imaginar que una misión de cristianos se lo iba a llevar becado. Entonces ya se fue dando un imagen de cómo era él para jugar y gracias a Dios pues lo firmó Medias Rojas,” he said.
The path helps explain why Dubón’s success has resonated so strongly in Honduras. The country does not have professional baseball leagues on the scale of nearby Nicaragua and Panama, and Danilo Dubón said that makes the climb especially difficult. “Para un hondureño es muy difícil, más difícil. Aquí se sabe porque no tenemos apoyo para béisbol,” he said. That shortage of structure is part of what makes Mauricio Dubón a rare Honduran success story in the sport — and part of why, according to his father, more people in Honduras have started paying attention to baseball because of him.
For now, the family is looking for the next milestone rather than the last one. Mauricio Dubón has already carved out a place in the majors, but his father’s wish is simple: one more stage, one more spotlight, and a little more history for Honduras.
