(WSVN) - A South Florida pro got a high honor during Friday morning’s Olympic opening ceremonies.
Infielder Eddy Alvarez joined Sue Bird as flag bearers, leading Team USA into the Olympics.
Alvarez grew up in South Florida and now plays in the Miami Marlins minor league system.
His wife said this moment holds a lot of weight for the ballplayer.
“It means absolutely everything,” said wife Gaby Alvarez. “We’re both first-generation Cuban-Americans and it just makes us so proud, you know, everything our families have sacrificed, everything our families have gone through to get us here and to give us the opportunity that we both have. It means so much. He really is the American dream.”
Alvarez’s family gathered at a gym in Doral to watch the opening ceremony.
The U.S. baseball team and Alvarez will take the field for the first time in a week when they play Israel.
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