SAN JOSE, Calif. - On April 28, 1996, Salinas native Ramiro Corrales made his first professional appearance for the San Jose Clash as a substitute in the 87th minute.
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Draped in a baggy, chartreuse jersey and a pair of forest green shorts, Corrales finally got the chance to don the kit of his hometown club in the match’s waning moments at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
At 20 years old, Corrales couldn’t have imagined that the kit he wore in his debut would be just one of several threads sported in his 12 years in San Jose.
The club’s all-time leader in games played (250), starts (228) and minutes played (20,188), Corrales has proved to be a mainstay as the kits have come and gone.
There was the all-black Clash jersey horizontally striped in turquoise. Who could forget the 2001 all-white Earthquakes jerseys patched with a purple Yahoo! Sports logo that dressed the eventual MLS Cup champions? Then there was the throwback red jersey worn in 2005 at Spartan Stadium to commemorate the original 1974 club.
Corrales wore all of those jerseys, plus several more, proudly.
In his farewell match on October 26, 2013, Corrales boasted a jersey no other San Jose player ever had: an all-black Earthquakes jersey that had the date of his professional debut embroidered below the club crest.
As his teammates lined up for the standard starting XI photo, they slipped on all of the jerseys he wore in his entire career in honor of his last match in San Jose.
Some players only dream to play 12 years of professional soccer. For Corrales, he played 12 of them in San Jose while wearing nearly every jersey in club history.
