Lupe Throws Like A Girl

When Lupe Lopez’s brother, David, reached his sophomore year and began making headlines in the Santa Barbara sports pages with his pitching for his high school team, Raul Ramirez, the Latin American recruiter for Major League Baseball, learned of him and his baseball talent. He disregarded David despite receiving scouting reports on the boys in Latin America who showed signs of potential for the major leagues.

In his capacity as a recruiter, Raul spent most of his time in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean; scouting young kids like David for sports camps and hoping he could discover a new slugger for the big league teams. He came across a star only once in his career, when he encountered a kid named Roberto Clemente. Why couldn’t something like that happen again?

It was undeniable that Raul had become older and less swift. However, he still possessed an eye for talented players, despite the lingering sorrow and lackluster enthusiasm from Roberto’s death in an airplane crash.

His brother-in-law, Daniel Villa, who resided in Bakersfield, California, was the one who informed him about this new kid he saw playing for the traveling squad from Santa Barbara High School. This happened at the same time the ghost of the former all-star player Roberto Clemente appeared to Raul like some kind of saint.

“What are you doing here?” Raul asked Roberto when he spotted him on Christmas Eve in his brother-in-law’s living room in Bakersfield. “Am I only imagining, or is this truly you? How can that be?”

“Well, your eyes are not as good as they used to be, old man. It could be that they are tricking you,” Roberto said.

“Am I striking out? Dying? Is that why I can see you?” Raul looked around to see whether his brother-in-law was aware of the ghost of Roberto Clemente in his house. “Do you have a message for me?”