Chavez, the Venezuelan President, Sends Congratulatory Wishes to Santana June 2, 2012, 9:33 pm Among the people who reached out to congratulate Johan Santana, the Venezuelan left-hander who had just thrown a the first no-hitter in Mets history Friday night, was Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president who is a huge baseball fan. Early Saturday morning Peter Greenberg, Santana's agent, received a call from Venezuela's minister of sports, calling on behalf of Chavez. Greenberg, who had just returned from a trip to Japan, was jet-lagged at the time. He watched the game at home in New York with his family, but was so exhausted afterward that he turned off his phone and went to bed after watching all the interviews on television. When he awoke, he heard the message from Chavez's emissary. "I don't know how they got my number," Greenberg said. A little bit scary, but it's cool they wanted to congratulate Johan. Obviously, they are huge baseball fans. Greenberg forwarded the message to Santana, who exchanged tweets with the head of state in the hours after the game. Greenberg also received a message from Venezuela's baseball hall of fame asking if Santana would donate an artifact from the game.