Puerto Rico fans go blond for record, Classic

MIAMI -- Many fans in the stands at loanDepot park on Saturday sported blond locks. Few of them were natural, though. To go with Team Puerto Rico’s hairdos -- all of them blond, including manager Yadier Molina and even team public relations manager Will Nadal -- many fans had their hair bleached. Some even dyed their beards.

So many, in fact, that it broke a Guinness World Record.

According to a report by the Associated Press, 192 men in Puerto Rico had their hair bleached on Friday ahead of the Pool D opener between Puerto Rico and Nicaragua on Saturday. And that’s a lot of blond.

“This is the passion our people bring in order to bring success and us continuing to support our country,” said Frank Arroyo, from Salinas, Puerto Rico, who dyed his hair blond leading up to the tournament. “This way we can continue our baseball culture. We have such an impressive history with Clemente and all the Hall of Famers that we have in Cooperstown. This tournament is going to go down in the history books.”

Arroyo said it took about 30 minutes to dye his hair. He was proudly sporting a Puerto Rican jersey, but said he would like to see his country, which has finished runner-up in each of the last two tournaments, bring home the championship trophy.

“As Puerto Rican people, we love baseball,” Arroyo said. “But we need to see who beats the United States.”

The tradition of the national team going blond started in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In ‘18, the country’s Little League World Series team followed suit. And this year, New York Met and Team Puerto Rico starting shortstop Francisco Lindor led the charge to get his Classic team on board with the golden locks.

"It's such a huge honor, and such a fun experience whenever you see everyone and their grandmas with blond hair and they don't care how bad they look," Lindor said after Puerto Rico's 9-1 win over Nicaragua. "To me, that that is just -- it's special whenever guys like us [who] come from the ground up can inspire not just the next generation, but inspire grandmas, grandpas, cousins, uncles, dads, moms. That's what it's all about."

Almost half of the team arrived in Fort Myers, Fla., ready for practices ahead of the Classic with their hair already bleached. The rest had theirs dyed by various stylists and barbers.

It’s impressive to see the group. The level of platinum blond many have achieved takes hours of bleaching and toning, which is key to getting the whitish-yellow hue without melting the hair. That level of patience off the field may be a good sign for the team as they pursue a Classic title.