Say Goodbye to Our Little Friend

Nelson De La Rosa, the "world's smallest actor," passed away on Sunday at the age of 38. He may have been only two feet and four inches tall, but he was big enough to hang with the larger-than-life personalities of both Pedro Martinez and Marlon Brando.

De La Rosa climbed from the schlockfest Rat Man to a role as Marlon Brando's sidekick in The Island of Dr. Moreau, and De La Rosa's character supposedly served as the inspiration for "Mini-Me" in the Austin Powers franchise. But he's best known for serving as Pedro Martinez' "lucky charm" during the Red Sox victory of 2004.
If you've seen video of De La Rosa doing his "mahow mahow" dance (if you haven't, you should), it's easy to see why De La Rosa was adopted as a symbol of joy and cheer. The fact that he was portable didn't hurt, either. The sight of a little person being tossed around a locker room by Martinez struck some as weird at best and exploitative at worst, but De La Rosa quickly became a major part of Red Sox lore.

Martinez and De La Rosa didn't have much in common except that they were from the Dominican Republic. However, Martinez saw something special in De La Rosa, saying he was a "very funny character, and very animated. Everybody's happy with him." After the World Series win, De La Rosa could have been called the "best little Red Sox fan in the world."
De La Rosa identified so deeply with the Red Sox that he and Martinez had a public falling out when Martinez moved on to the Mets. De La Rosa even told the New York Daily News that Martinez "broke his heart." (To his credit, Martinez issued a statement praising De La Rosa and offering sympathy to his family.)
Even though he was most famous in the United States as the Red Sox mascot, De La Rosa had quite a following beyond the Red Sox. The fansite devoted to him is now dark, with one appropriately short message in his memory.