I'm talking Wise Latinas.

They're everywhere. Latinos are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Philadelphia, just as they are in the United States.

So it makes sense that Latinas are holding it down in government, in boardrooms, classrooms, neighborhoods, even heading the School Reform Commission. (Scratch that. Make that "formerly heading." Folks are still debating whether Heidi Ramirez's recent resignation was a wise move, though I'm guessing Ramirez thought so.)

And it doubly makes sense that Sonia Sotomayor finally became the nation's first Latina Supreme Court justice.

It's just too bad that lately, thanks to a quote by Sotomayor, Wise Latinas have found themselves in the spotlight - or the hot seat, depending on whom you talk to.

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," Sotomayor said in speeches written to inspire other Latinas who had grown up the way she had - poor and in the projects.

During Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, detractors had hoped the Wise Latina quote would persuade members of the Senate that Sotomayor could not be trusted to rule impartially on the highest court in the land.

Instead, it backfired. "Wise Latina" is proudly worn as a slogan on T-shirts by scores of women - Latinas and non-Latinas alike.

Still, the controversy over the Wise Latina quote threatened to trump the actual confirmation itself.

Not that I expected folks to be doing the salsa in the street, but the historic swearing in of this undisputed W.L. almost felt like an afterthought.

Which was why I went to the ballpark, a joyous place where folks were actually doing the salsa on the concourse.

After all, it was Latino Family Night at Citizens Bank Park. What better place to ask about Sotomayor's watershed moment than at the Phillies game, where wise women go to root for the best team in baseball?

Finicky nation

Mata, 50, has seen enough to know that the nation's cultural tastes can be finicky. Just look at how the so-called "Latin Explosion" of a few years ago has given way to our latest obsession - Bollywood.

But it excites her to see the nation is acknowledging Latinos through the nomination of Sotomayor.

As for Sotomayor's quote, "To me, she was saying that from her perspective, her experience would allow her to see both sides of a [legal] issue better," said Mata, 50, a Mexican American who grew up in San Antonio, Texas. "I'm not surprised they tried to use it against her, though."

Yolanda Sanchez's gratification stems from knowing that her country seems to have finally caught up with her baseball team.

"The Phillies are a good example of people realizing other cultures exist," she said.

And if player loyalty is any indication, so are the Phillies fans.

White fans wore the jerseys of black players. Latino fans wore the jerseys of white players. And just about everybody wore a Raul Ibañez jersey.

The ballpark is one place racial and ethnic divisions go down on strikes.

Indeed, the music got too intoxicating for Grace Torrez Henry. Wearing her pink Chase Utley T-shirt, she broke out in a salsa.

"It's good [Sotomayor] is Latin. I'm proud that she is," says Henry, who, like Sotomayor, is Puerto Rican.

"But guess what? What's best for us as Americans is what I'm for."

Which is why, she says, everyone should be celebrating the Wise Latina on the Supreme Court.

Because she's good for all of us.

at 215-854-4986 or ajohnhall@phillynews.com. Read her work at: http://go.philly.com/annette