Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507170035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``They never shut up,'' said Bill Hayes, the Avalanche's manager. ``Three o'clock in the morning and they're still talking.''
Aside from the disruption that causes to fragile sleep patterns, it can be particularly annoying because nobody understands what outfielder Edgard Velasquez and second baseman Vincente Garcia are saying. Seeing as how they're the only Latin players on the team, they are speaking in their native tongue - Spanish.
``They only speak it when they don't want us to understand what they're talking about,'' said Bill Champion, Salem's pitching coach.
So just what are Velasquez, from Puerto Rico, and Garcia, from Venezuela - ``Eddie'' and ``Vinnie'' around the clubhouse - talking about?
``Everything,'' said Velasquez, 19.
``Baseball,'' said Garcia, 20.
``Girls,'' Velasquez said.
Which would of course keep most young athletes deep in conversation for some time.
Most of the language barriers have come down for these two, both of whom are in only their second full season of professional baseball. Neither knew much English when he arrived stateside, but they have learned quickly.
As far as the language of baseball is concerned, both have been most eloquent. Velasquez plays center field and mostly bats third in the order, a slot from which he had produced a .288 batting average, eight home runs, 43 runs batted in and a team-leading 91 hits through Thursday. Garcia most often bats in the second slot and was hitting .248 with 41 runs scored.
``Both of them are gifted athletes and both of them are young,'' Hayes said.
They live together at home, but room separately on the road. Garcia is, by both accounts, the better cook. His specialities?
``Steak, chicken, rice, beans - everything,'' he said.
The fare must be agreeing with Velasquez, considering the way he has been playing. Of course, that's only part of it. As Hayes said: The kid's an athlete. Basketball and volleyball were his other sports. The baseball blood ran rich, though, as would befit a relative of the late Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.
``He and my mother were cousins,'' Velasquez said. ``She was only 4 years old when he died, but she knew he was a great player.''
Velasquez had no such family connections to the game. The youngest of 11 children, he is the only professional athlete of the lot.
``The rest of them are professionals,'' he said of his four brothers and six sisters.
One sister is a dentist, another was a ballerina, another is an ophthalmologist; one brother is a lawyer, another a veterinarian, and so on. Vincente has completed two years of veterinary school and intends to pursue that profession when he's done with baseball.
His father is a lawyer, farmer and teacher; his mother a teacher.
Garcia and Velasquez had visited to the United States before they came here to play baseball. Velasquez lived in Texas for a year because his mother had a job there teaching Spanish. Garcia came with his family on two visits to Disney World.
Eleven children on an international trip to Disney World?
``Oh, no,'' Garcia said. ``My parents just took the five youngest.''
Velasquez comes from a smaller family. One of his brothers, Giovanni, signed with the California Angels this year.
One might assume their late cousin Roberto would have been pleased.
STRANDED: Michel LaPlante, a French Canadian right-hander many Salem fans might recall from his days as a Salem Buccaneer, is back in the Carolina League and the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization after spending the 1994 season with Class AA Carolina.
After being traded to the San Diego Padres in the off-season, LaPlante was caught in the shuffle when the club decided to keep some replacement players and he was released. Pittsburgh then re-signed him, however, he was unable to report because he had returned home to Canada and could not secure another visa. After months of cutting through red tape, LaPlante received his visa and was assigned to Lynchburg. He gave up seven hits and five runs in five innings in his first start there this week.
SHORT HOPS: Former Ferrum College standout Billy Wagner has been promoted by Houston from Class AA Jackson, Miss., to Class AAA Tucson, Ariz., where he has a 1-2 record. ... Marcel Lachemann, the California Angels' manager, was quoted this week as saying of former Radford University right-hander Phil Leftwich (shoulder surgery) and two other injured pitchers, Scott Sanderson and Julio Valera: ``If we see any of them pitch here this season, it'll be a bonus.''
by CNB