Sporting events may rehash old rivalries or start new spats but, at the end of the day, they are often a great unifier.
The World Series, which is watched by millions of people across the country, as well as thousands in the stands, is one of those events.
That unifying message was reflected on Wednesday night after the Washington Nationals claimed their first-ever World Series win and award-winning chef José Andrés, who started and grew his restaurant empire in the district., shared a moving sentiment about the nature of baseball.
As celebratory crowds cheered in the streets last night, Cory Smith, a reporter for NBC's affiliate station in Washington, D.C., caught up with Andrés for a post-game interview.
“This is a sport, but it means so much more than that," Andrés began. "It’s everybody as one. Doesn’t matter where you come from, who you are, what accent you speak, the color of your skin, we become one."
"And that’s what you need to believe in," he continued. "This city is great, and we keep on making it, if anything, better every day."
"Come back next year and we'll do it all again," Smith said as Andrés walked away to join more revelers.
Plenty of the chef's fans expressed their gratitude for his sweet sentiment.
Andrés was born in Spain but moved to the U.S. when he was just 21 years old to start his career as a chef in New York City. In 1993, he moved to Washington and began working at the newly opened Jaleo. He has steadily continued to grow his restaurant group and now owns over 25 restaurants across the country.
He has also used his platform to perform remarkable humanitarian efforts. Through his organization World Central Kitchen, which he founded in 2010 the earthquake in Haiti, Andrés served more than 3 million meals to those displaced in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria, nearly double the amount of meals the American Red Cross had provided to people on the island by the end of last year. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.
This month, he was very visible during this year’s World Series and even threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Game 5 earlier in the week.
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Now that his hometown team has officially won, it looks like the chef is truly ready to party.
We'd love a seat at this celebration dinner!
