You take the good with the bad, I suppose, and yesterday, the Chicago Cubs family got a bit of each. On the sad end, Alfonso Soriano’s mother passed away suddenly of an apparent heart attack.
ESPNdeportes.com reported the news of Andrea Soriano’s death after hearing from the player. According to that report, a funeral service will be held Wednesday afternoon at the Quisqueya community of San Pedro de Macoris.
“Mom was fine, happy and healthy,” Soriano told ESPN. “Even last week I took her to Disney World in Orlando and she was super excited. It was her first time at Disney.”
Soriano has been working out at the Cubs’ academy in the Dominican Republic and was scheduled to meet with the Ricketts before his mother’s passing. cubs.com.
At the same time, Carlos Zambrano got closer to adopting a son.
Carlos Zambrano is counting the days until he becomes a father again.
The Cubs pitcher and his wife, Ismary, aren’t dealing with the normal nine-month time frame. The Zambranos are in the final stages of adopting a boy from a Guatemala orphanage, and Carlos said he hopes to finalize the details before Opening Day.
The Zambranos already have three girls, but the right-hander met the boy, now 18 months old, during a trip to Guatemala as part of his church’s relief efforts.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Zambrano said. “It’s a good thing for us. Our daughters are excited about this. We just want to keep this guy, this little kid. He’s a blessing.”
The boy has no idea how lucky he is — yet.
“He will,” Zambrano said, smiling. “We will make sure he feels blessed and he feels comfortable with the family.” cubs.com.
Hearts and thoughts go out to both the Soriano and Zambrano families.