Miami Marlins: beat reporter Jorge Ebro, the man with the golden pen

Miami Marlins beat reporter Jorge Ebro is one of Latin America’s most admired sports journalists. We spoke with him about his journey from Cuba to the American Dream.

HIALEAH, FL – Jorge Ebro, Miami Marlins beat reporter for El Nuevo Herald is one of the most respected Latin journalists in the country. He’s an expert on many sports one of them being baseball.

He’s a journalist who wears many hats when it comes to covering sports and covers just about everyone and everything for Miami’s leading newspaper.

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He isn’t only a journalist he also dabbles in radio and tv, once having a radio show on ESPN and also serving as a boxing expert for BEIN on their boxing cards.

Ebro studied journalism at the University of Havana and worked in Cuba for the newspaper Opciones. He has worked for the Herald since 2000 and has been a member of the BBWAA since 2012.

It is known that baseball is your first love, but what inspired you to become a journalist?

My first love is actually shared between baseball and boxing. My love for literature or better said my dislike for numbers inspired me to get into journalism. I respect the sciences, but I love words and how they bind us. I love to report and paint a picture verbally without the overuse of statistics.

Many in the city of Miami consider you the top dog amongst the Latin sports media because of your versatility. Give me your thoughts about that assessment?

I don’t, I’m not even close to the best. I can mention plenty of my colleagues who I believe are more rounded journalists than myself. One must take the job of being a journalist very seriously, yet not let it get to one’s head. In this business, glory is only temporary. One is only as good as their last article.

Do you still follow the Serie Nacional?

Yes, I follow Cuban baseball very closely with an emphasis on the second stage of the tournament and the playoffs. I follow it now more for professional purposes because the quality of baseball based on the defections has declined quite a bit. Gone are the days of those great Cuban teams like the ones I recall in my youth.

What’s your favorite team in Cuba?

I follow my natal Matanzas, but I have to confess I really don’t follow that baseball as I did in my youth when I was a regular at Victoria de Giron stadium. My life is now here, the best Cuban players are here and the best baseball is here.

The fervor for baseball in Cuba has dissipated, Cubans talk more about Real Madrid and Barcelona soccer than they about our national game. The country and the people I knew have changed dramatically.

Being the Miami Marlins beat writer for the Herald, how do you grade the team’s rebuild so far?

The jury is still put on the rebuild, it looks like it’s going to be a lengthy and slow reconstruction.

Although our retooled farm system has gotten a lot better, I still don’t see a star there like in years past. For example, I don’t see a Miguel Cabrera, Giancarlo Stanton or Christian Yelich, a bonafide star, all I see is a lot of solid players. I’m not confident in saying that our farm system right now can field a winner year in and year out the way it’s constructed in the current day.

How do you grade the new Miami Marlins ownership so far?

Bruce Sherman has many financial resources and he loves baseball. He’s also a natural winner, combining with Jeter this gives me great optimism. Considering what the fans of Miami have had to endure the last decade, they haven’t done a bad job.