Omar Minaya

Omar Minaya is currently the general manager of the New York Mets, a position he took in September, 2004.

Born in the Dominican Republic, he moved to Queens, N.Y. when he was eight. He played in the minor leagues for a bit before joining the Texas Rangers' scouting team in 1985, where he helped in the signing of players such as Sammy Sosa and Juan Gonzalez.

Minaya worked his way up to assistant G.M. with his hometown New York Mets, and later became the first Hispanic G.M. when he was named to that post in 2002 as a member of the Montreal Expos.

Since joining the Mets in 2004, he has heavily recruited other Latino players, including fellow Dominican Pedro Martinez and Puerto Rican outfielder Carlos Beltran. While he is not trying to "latinize" the Mets, as some say, Minaya has certainly made his team more viable to the hotbed of talent among the Latin American community.