When the phone call came in about a month-and-a-half ago, Jos\u00e9 Iglesias didn\u2019t quite believe it. Broadway producers were asking the shortstop, a veteran of 13 seasons in the big leagues, to join the cast of the hit musical \u201cBuena Vista Social Club.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you guys calling the right guy?\u2019\u201d Iglesias asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we know who we\u2019re talking to,\u201d went the voice on the other end. \u201cAre you Jos\u00e9 Iglesias, \u2018OMG?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Iglesias\u2019 talent as a pop musician became clear while he was still a ball player. Just two years ago, his song \u201cOMG,\u201d short for \u201cOh my God,\u201d became an anthem for his team at the time, the New York Mets. Under his stage name Candelita, Iglesias performed the song at the Mets\u2019 Citi Field after a game in June 2024.<\/p>\n
Now, starting Aug. 27 \u2014 nearly a full year since Iglesias last played in the majors \u2014 he\u2019s agreed to join the Tony Award-winning \u201cBuena Vista Social Club\u201d for a six-week run in the role of the narrator at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York. He\u2019s set to become the first Latino Major League Baseball player to perform on Broadway, according to the production, which announced his casting Thursday.<\/p>\n
Exactly how much singing and dancing Iglesias himself will do is still being worked out, he said, but he expects to perform at least one song in the production. The show, which opened last year, tells a story he was familiar with as a child in Cuba, about a legendary group of musicians in Havana.<\/p>\n
Iglesias called the opportunity to join the cast \u201cbreathtaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of history behind that band, a lot of great memories,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cHow it traveled around the world with authentic Cuban music, I grew up listening to it. My dad was a big fan. It\u2019s literally a dream come true to be part of such a great musical.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Afro-Cuban band that will be playing behind Iglesias received a Grammy award for 2026\u2019s best musical theater album, as well as a special Tony Award in 2025. The production took home four additional Tonys that year as well.<\/p>\n
Now, of course, comes the hard part: preparing for the biggest stage in musical theater. At first, Iglesias said he was \u201creally, really nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost some sleep, I\u2019m not gonna lie,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cJust like we\u2019re gonna face an ace and a good pitcher in the playoffs: that type of energy, that type of adrenaline, that\u2019s how it feels. It was tough, it was tough \u2014 but in a good way. In a great way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quickly, Iglesias set out to find coaches who could help him prepare. In theater, \u201ceverything is so big,\u201d he said, and he wants to deliver a performance that\u2019s respectful of the fans and Broadway at large.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have a normal conversation, in theater, you disappear, so you have to exaggerate every movement, everything you say, and how you say it and the intentions behind it,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cI know how to hit a sinker, I know how to take a sweeper away, and crush four-seamers. But it never never crossed my mind to do such a great thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only Broadway show Iglesias believes he has seen is \u201cMJ the Musical,\u201d about pop star Michael Jackson. But he\u2019s relishing the chance to return to New York, where he left an outsized mark in one season of play.<\/p>\n
In 2024, he and the Mets made it to the National League Championship Series, and Iglesias hit .337 in 85 regular-season games along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened in that city, or my city, it was so intimate,\u201d Iglesias remembered. \u201cWhat happened that year with \u2018OMG\u2019 and the New York Mets, every single player, it was immaculate. It was magnificent. It was real.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think \u2018OMG\u2019 opened the door. I personally think \u2018OMG\u2019 is the door for an opportunity like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Iglesias, it\u2019s too early to say whether he could have a second career on Broadway. He\u2019s performed his music live before, but the theater will be \u201ca whole different animal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funny enough, the 36-year-old\u2019s hope entering this year was that come late August, he would still be in a dugout somewhere. Unsigned last offseason, Iglesias felt he was in great shape, and he had enjoyed his time in 2025 with the San Diego Padres. He was ready to again help out a team as a veteran presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in shock I did not get any MLB calls,\u201d said Iglesias, who played in 112 games for the Padres last year. \u201cBut on the other hand, I was so blessed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not stopped playing baseball for 29 years straight. This is actually the first time ever that I won\u2019t grab a bat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broadway and baseball have crossed paths at other points over time. \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d won the Tony Award for best musical in 1956, while \u201cTake Me Out\u201d received the Tony Award for best play in 2003. Hall of Famer Cap Anson appeared on Broadway in \u201cA Runaway Colt\u201d in the late 19th century, while he was still playing baseball.<\/p>\n
More recently, the Savannah Bananas, an independent baseball team that bends the sport\u2019s traditional rules, have had Broadway stars make cameos on the diamond.<\/p>\n
Iglesias hopes other ball players now will be inspired to explore their talents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very positive moment for baseball players as well,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cThey also have dreams to be something else, because I know a lot of players that love music, they love to sing and they love to play instruments. But they\u2019re on the baseball field 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iglesias believes the hardest part of his new job might come when his old teammates show up in the first row. Some already have plans to catch a performance, and he thinks it\u2019ll be emotional to see them looking up at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019m gonna be at that show at some point,\u201d said Francisco Lindor, the Mets\u2019 star shortstop. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be fun. I haven\u2019t seen him in a long time and I miss him, so I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Broadway will also be emotional for Iglesias because of what it means to his own winding journey. He defected from Cuba as a teenager to pursue his baseball dreams, signing with the Boston Red Sox in 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cI left my country, I left my family, my dad at the time, my mom, everything behind when I was 17 years old,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cComing to Canada, planning to leave the Cuban national team, just a dream to be a big-league player. And then I crossed the border by myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know nobody in the U.S. at the time. I didn\u2019t know where I was gonna sleep, and then one and a half years later, I was hitting bloopers in Fenway Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iglesias was being playful about his reputation as a player, which did not include prowess as a power hitter \u2014 hence, the bloopers. But he was excellent defensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cHavana to Canada, Canada to the U.S, \u2018OMG,\u2019 Broadway,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cIt\u2019s like easy to say, but I\u2019ve been through so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Never a stage quite like this, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love energy. I love life,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cI love making an impact in people\u2019s lives, however I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014With contributions from The Athletic\u2019s Tim Britton\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the phone call came in about a month-and-a-half ago, Jos\u00e9 Iglesias didn\u2019t quite believe it. Broadway producers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,569,462,475,82],"class_list":["post-822222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-culture","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}