Olympic speed skater medallist Eddy Alvarez crosses over to MLB

Olympic speed skater medallist Eddy Alvarez crosses over to MLB
05/08/2020
Alvarez is only the second player in history to appear on an MLB roster after winning an Olympic medal in another sport. After the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, he focused on baseball. The story parallels legend Jim Thorpe.

The Miami Marlins went back to Major League Baseball (MLB) action with a 4-0 win against the Baltimore Orioles. The Marlins were shut down eight days after a number of players and staff members tested positive to COVID-19.

The Marlins have now 18 new players on their roster, including 30-year old switch-hitting middle infielder Eddy Alvarez.

Eduardo Cortes Alvarez, the son of Cuban immigrants, earned a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics representing the USA in short track speed skating.

Alvarez gave up skating after the Sochi Games to focus on his baseball career. He has so far appeared in 581 Minor League Baseball (MiLB) games (over 75% at shortstop, but he also played at second, third base and int he outfield), including 213 at the AAA level.

Alvarez is the second player in the history of the game to appear on an MLB roster after winning an Olympic medal in another sport. The first one was Jim Thorpe (1887-1953), who won gold medals in pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm and went on to play Major League Baseball for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves.

Thorpe had played Minor League Baseball (MiLB) before competing in the Olympics and was stripped of his medals. In October 1982, the International Olympic Committee reinstated him a two-time co-gold medalist.

After his baseball career Jim Thorpe pursued a professional football Hall of Fame career.