Gordon Shepherd
JULIO: A VENEZUELAN BASEBALL PLAYER REMINDED ME ABOUT HONOR AND RESPECT IN SPORTS
Today I chatted with Julio Escobar at a chance encounter at Starbucks on Dave Ward Drive in Conway, Arkansas. Julio is a husky, six foot one inch, right-handed pitcher for the Central Baptist College Mustangs’ baseball team. Julio hails from Barquinimeto, Venezuela and his American teammates at CBC like to call him July.
I first met Julio at the Conway Fieldhouse, a baseball workout facility used by the Mustangs and where I go to hit baseballs in the batting cage.
“You look good and fit” I said to Julio. “You must be working out since the season ended.”
“Si, como no, Sir.” (Julio and his teammates don’t know my name but they all call me sir). “I want to be ready for next year.”
We commenced talking briefly about the Mustangs’ losing season but ultimate success in tournament play, battling to win the American Midwest Conference Championship series and unexpectedly finishing in third place.
Julio told me he was working on a few points he wanted to bring up when the baseball team meets with coaches in August to discuss the teams’ goals and prospects for the 2023-24 school year.
I gestured for Julio to take a seat at my Starbucks table and explain what he wanted to talk to his teammates about. Since Julio’s English is better than my Spanish, we switched to English.
He was as concerned with attitudes and honor, he said, than with players’ individual skills and abilities. The Mustang’s late season surge in the tournament demonstrated that they could hold their own with the best in their league and he wanted to maintain their momentum going into next year.
“By honor, I mean respect,” he said. “It’s important that we have respect for ourselves and the teams we play against. We have respect for ourselves and others when we play our hardest in every game. And if we win, we respect our opponents for playing their best against us. If we lose, we still respect ourselves for doing our best—not by complaining or making excuses—and by acknowledging the good play of our opponents. We want to win. We play hard to win and I want to play against the best. If we lose to the best, I can live with that, as long as we didn’t give up. We can’t get down on ourselves if we lose. There’s another game tomorrow. We will try again.”
“I want to play with men,” he said, “not kids. Men should respect one another.”
“Wow,” I said to myself as I sat listening to Julio. “This sounds just like the sportsmanship ideals I was schooled in at Lincoln and South High growing up as a sports crazy kid in Salt Lake City.” It was pure Boy Scout rhetoric but I liked it.
“I agree with everything you just said,” I told Julio, while musing to myself: “He may never make the major leagues, but Julio sounds like he would make a great coach for boys and young men, the kind of coach a parent would want for his own kids.”
Julio glanced at me and looked a little relieved that I was encouraging him to continue.
“I mean, it’s never about me or just one person or a star player,” he said. “Baseball’s a game of nine players on the field who all have to contribute and do their part. And the guys on the bench, who aren’t starting, they have to do their part too. They have to be ready every time the team takes the field. Be ready to do your best if the coach decides to put you in the game, be ready to support your teammates, encourage them when they make a mistake, and not put them down or think that you’re better. If you keep working, you’ll get your chance.”
Last year was Julio’s first as a Mustang at CBC. He wasn’t a starter and he seldom got a chance to pitch and then only in relief for a few innings. But in the tournament he came through with four innings of scoreless relief pitching when his team needed to win a game. He was ready.
This coming year he hopes to become a leader on the team.
“To me, a leader isn’t somebody who asks or tells people to follow him,” Julio told me. “A leader leads by example. A leader shows respect and honor for his team and even for his opponents. He shows he wants to win by working hard and playing hard. A leader is one who is respected by his teammates.”
“I agree with everything you said,” I told Julio.
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