BOSTON – When Red Sox manager Alex Cora, the ultimate baseball junkie, willingly misses a game, you know it’s for a good reason.
Such will be the case for Monday night’s opener of a three-game series against the Mets at Fenway Park, when Cora will be one of the many prideful parents in attendance as his daughter Camila graduates from Boston College.
While bench coach Ramón Vázquez steps in to manage the Red Sox for a day, Cora will soak in Camila’s accomplishment with his family.
“It went fast, it went really fast,” Cora said. “For a girl from divorced parents, her mom did an amazing job staying the course, and while I was playing and coaching and doing my ESPN thing. Nilda was amazing with her. She’s actually a reflection of her. I appreciate everything that she’s done for her and for us, obviously.
“Obviously our lives changed throughout, and [my partner] Angelica has become like a mentor to her, too, and they’re very close, and the fact that we were here while she was going through college, it meant a lot. And it’s going to be a very special day. One that I’m not going to miss. And I 100% will miss the game for that, and I’ll do that any given day, because it’s going to be a special day for us together.”
Will dad be crying when Camila grabs that diploma?
“We’ll see,” said Cora. “But we’re excited. Amazing. You put everything into perspective. And you know, you go back to the videos from the ‘18 [postseason], she’s a little girl. And then in ‘21 when she hopped onto the field when we beat Tampa [Bay to win the American League Division Series], she was still a little girl. Now she’s not a little girl, she’s a woman.
“She has fun with it. She’s been a great student. And you know, the future is bright for her, and we’re very proud of her.”
Up next for Camila Cora will be graduate school at her dad’s alma mater, the University of Miami.
Interestingly, Alex Cora said he didn’t do any persuading when it came to that decision.
“No, that was her,” Cora said. “She had options for the next chapter in her life. And I think, like everybody else, you decide what you want to do, and I think she’s ready for the 85-degree weather all year round.”
