$3.6 Million Florida Marlins Pitcher Used False Name, Rigged Documentation For Years

What's in a name? For Juan Carlos Oviedo, this was no mere philosophical question. At the time, the 16-year-old Dominican baseball prospect had the right stuff, except one essential qualification. He was a year outside the big contract money. So, as with many resourceful or desperate wannabe peloteros, Oviedo did the practical thing. Probably through his trainer,  he obtained a fraudulent birth certificate and a new name. And just like that, the former Juan Carlos Oviedo became Leo Nunez.

It turned out Nunez had a 3.6 million dollar arm. His most recent team, the Florida Marlins, spoke highly of his character. The team also discovered that Nunez was really Oviedo. There was another issue that finally forced Oviedo out into the open: funerals.

According to the Miami Herald, the Dominican consul general noted that the player "told human stories of family members who had died and he could not go to the funeral under the name Juan Carlos Oviedo, because everyone in the Dominican Republic knows him as Leo Nunez..."He couldn't just show up at the wake as the relative of some Oviedo. That would be a problem."

Yes, a problem. The story, not exactly unusual in Major League Baseball, is a good one. Here's the link to it.