The Team Clown

So, the Dragones, though improving at every practice, have not won a game yet. It can be demoralizing, but what can you do? It helps that we have Alejandro, the team clown.

Alejandro comes to practice every week on his inline skates. This is a respectable feat in and of itself, given the street and sidewalk hazards in Oaxaca (see September 9 post). Alejandro plays an important role for the Dragones…he is the by far the worst player and he knows it. For this reason, he never comes to games…or he comes and watches to support the team, but he must love baseball because he faithfully shows up to practices. He bats, throws and catches with the rest of the team. Last week, I realized how important he is to the Dragones. It’s not just that he jokes, teases and makes fun of himself continuously, causing everyone to laugh and lighten up. It’s also important for some of our new players who aren’t so good, to feel that they are not alone. They are not the worst player on the team because…hey…look, it’s Alejandro. He can barely play baseball, but wow, does he have a good time.

Every team needs an Alejandro and the coaches know it. They love him and they play easy on him when it’s his turn to bat or throw or field the ball. Take infield practice. Blancas gets the boys to line up at third, where there is the understanding that they will take turns fielding ground balls and throwing to first base…standard infield practice. When it is Gabe’s turn, Blancas hits a fast ground ball to him. If you’ve never played baseball before, this is a terrifying moment in a ball player’s life…not knowing if that ball is going to take a bad bounce and hit you in the groin, or the neck or the face. The command from the coach is “en frente”…or get in front of the ball. This is a basic baseball skill and the good players will almost always stop the ball from getting past them. The better a player gets, the less fear he feels. Gabe, for example, has become a confident infielder. After months of these drills, when the ball is hit, he gets himself in front of the ball, fields it and makes a straight hard throw to first base.

Alejandro steps up for his turn and it’s another matter. First, he will miss the hard grounder as it rolls under his legs, his mitt not quite low enough to stop the ball. You’ve see this sight on any number of baseball flicks…Bad News Bears, for one. The second grounder, Alejandro watches as it goes by to his left… the fear of that hard grounder keeping him from getting in front of the ball.

“Ay Ay Ay…” coach Blancas says and slaps his head, at which point Alejandro throws up his arms and cracks a joke. Blancas laughs and hits him a soft grounder. This one, Alejandro stops with his mitt, grabbing the ball with his throwing arm and releasing his high-arced rainbow to first base. All the other players pat him on the back and he goes to the end of the line to wait for his next turn.

I suppose it’s unfair to focus on Alejandro in this way, but Blancas told us a story last week that made me think it might be appropriate. Blancas coached Vinny Castilla Soria and his big brother when they were young. Big brother was always the promising player, strong, physically agile and quick. Vinny was scrawy and weak, but he loved to play ball. Vinny’s brother lost interest in baseball eventually and became a business man. Vinny stayed with baseball and went on to become one of the best Mexican players to get to the Majors. May it be so for Alejandro.