Some years ago, I noted in GQ that there seemed to be quite a few baseball players who combined a Hispanic surname (and were generally of Latin American ethnic origin) with a Russian given name. Examples would include Ivan Rodriguez, Vladimir Nùñez, and Vladimir Guerrero. There is no obvious connection to 20th century Left political ferment. When I asked why the rather strange cross-ethnicity naming practice, there seemed to be consensus that it was an interesting question that no one knew the answer to. That thread appears to have been lost to time. So with the Game Room now active, I’m asking it again.
You mean other than Cuba, Venezuela and a whole host of other socialist movements that have been popular in Latin America over the last 50 years that most likely had some connection to mother Russia at some point?
Interestingly, only one of the three which Polycarp mention is from a country which has ever been ruled by Communists: Nunez was born in Cuba. Rodriguez is from Puerto Rico, Guerrero is from the Dominican Republic (though, certainly, both of those places undoubtedly have Communist citizens).
Iván is a fairly “commonly uncommon” name in Puerto Rico and other Spanish-speaking countries. I’m not sure exactly who was the first Spanish speaker EVER to name the kid that way, but it is not a rare name by all means. At least, not in Puerto Rico.
As to Vladimir… you’re forgetting the full name of Lenin included "Vladimir Ilych". That may explain some leftist parents. Or any parent that reads the diary and goes “That sounds like a cool name!”
My father uses to joke that there was a girl that was feared in the neighborhood because she joined “el [the] Taliban”.
Turns out it was “el tal [the such and so] Ivan”. 
But yes, at least in El Salvador it was not rare to encounter friends and relatives that had Russian revolutionary names, but that does not automatically mean that the parents were commies, I have noticed several Vladimirs at the chamber of commerce over there.
There’s a certain tendency in some Latin American countries to use “exotic” first names. I don’t think it’s specific to Russian ones. In this list of Dominican baseball players, besides Vladimir you’ll find non-traditional, non-Hispanic names like Israel, Edwin, Fausto, Omar, Yhency, Ambiorix, Eude, Tilson, Nelson, Neftali, Runelvys, Waldis, Radhames, Yorkis, Hanley, Esmil, Yohanny, and many others.
There are lots of Panamanian Ivans. I haven’t run into a Vladimir yet, but I’ve seen lots of stranger names.
How soon we forget Melky, eh, Colibri?
It’s a little-known fact that it’s actually a nickname for Mikhial. 
Many middle eastern names could be explained by the travels of some ancestors.
One grandmother used to tell us about his father that was sent away from what is now Jordan.
He was sent away because of the unrest caused by the first World War and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. (“Full of furniture for some reason” - Eddie Izzard :))
Apparently they were in a very dangerous situation because the parents decided that the best choice was to sent the young fellow out on a boat headed for America… the continent, not the nation, with just a few gold coins hidden in his belt. After years of working in ships and ports he made his way to Central America and he decided to settle down in El Salvador, and so did many friends and relatives later.
There are many, many, many more players with clearly Russian first names.
It seems quite likely to me that the trend started in Cuba in the early 1960s for reasons of political affinity, and spread thence to other countries around the Caribbean Sea.
No there aren’t. There are actually very very few.
From the Dominican list I linked above there is one Vladimir and one Ivan out of 517 players.
From the list of Cuban Baseball players there is one Vladimir and one Alexei out of 163 players.
Puerto Rico has four Ivans out of 230 players.
Venezuela has one Ivan out of 256 players.
Panama has one Ivan out of 47.
Colombia has zero out of nine.
Mexico has zero out of 112.
Nicaragua has zero out of 11.
Honduras has zero out of one.
So out of 1,346 players born in Latin America, we have 10 players with Russian first names: 7 Ivans, 2 Vladimirs, and one Alexei. Hardly a major trend.
You’re forgetting about all the Joses, named after Stalin.
Many Lebanese and other Middle Easterners emigrated to Latin America in the early 20th Century. Often in small towns you will find their descendants operating a dry goods store or a restaurant. However, the only “Middle Eastern” name that appears to be at all common in most of Latin America that I can think of is Omar.
From El Salvador I can remember Siman, Salume, Handal (Shafik Handal was a notorious FMLN leader) Hasbun, Kohuri, Saca. (Elías Antonio Saca was the former rightist president), Abraham? Many forget that is is a name that not only Jews use, Muslims in the middle east also consider him as their prophet.
One good book to check for more info is:
“A century of Palestinian immigration into Central America”.
Colibri, I meant among all professional or national-team players. You’re not even counting all the current MLB players.
Still, maybe I overdid the “many, many.” I follow several leagues besides MLB, and impressionistically they add up. Two guys with Russian names in a game, and that’s maybe what you remember.
About 20 yrs ago, my father dated a 50 yr old lady who was born of Puerto Rican and Russian parents.
I included every MLB player born in Latin America (including Puerto Rico) listed by the Baseball Almanac. I doubt very much the proportion is drastically different in minor or other national leagues.
I think that’s what happens. You note a couple of unusual names and it looks like a trend. But I think “Ivan” at least is common enough in Latin America that it’s not really thought of as a Russian name any more.
What Colibri says in the final quoted paragraph was my point in the OP – more than one or two incongruous name combinations appeared as something of a trend.
By my comment “There is no obvious connection to 20th century Left political ferment”, I simply meant that I saw no significant correlation between the names I had noted and the places I was aware of significant flirtation with pro-Russian politics or ideology. (Cuba, yes; Cuban emigré families, not so much.) I’d submit that while there may have been some interest in Soviet-bloc politics to varying degrees in many Hispanophone countries, there did not seem to be any obvious correlation between that trend and whether they were also fertile ground for producing ballplayers of potential MLB status.
Eh… The ballplayers’ names (at least if you look at the national teams) are just a loose reflection of the names used in that country. The thing is, if all you noticed are the famous people, you don’t realize there are lots more others (usually) with the same name.
Again, Iván, while not as common as other names (like Carlos, Ricardo, and Roberto, all German-origin), is still common enough in general that nobody uses it thinking “it is a Russian name”. I mean, even though to you, as an outsider, that may seem like a weird name, it may be common enough in that society as to pass unnoticed. Iván and Omar are examples of that. Took me all the way until I move out of the island to realize that Iván was Russian and Omar was Arab. To me, in my culture, they did not raise an eyebrow anymore than naming the kid Carlos, Pedro, Ricardo, Roberto, Guillermo, etc. would.
Vladimir Lenin, at least during part of the 20th century, appeared on the newspapers and media often enough that I’m sure some parents gave the name to their kids because “it sounded cool”. And eventually others did the same, without associating it with Lenin. Is it that hard to think of that as an explanation? Come on, right now they’re treding baby names and saying that things like Twilight influence current baby names. Getting baby names from the media is not new or uncommon.