César Valdés announced that he retires because “they opened fire on referees ,” and my first reaction was to wonder why the hell I was doing journalism, where the national sport is not baseball, but to blame us for all …
The “enough” from the head of the Cuban baseball umpires adds fuel to the revolutionary sport whose gossip behind the scenes currently generate more news than their results as such. And the exit of a type with the rank of Cesar is very eloquent…
Since he threw up the Tintorero de Marianao in that game against the Orioles, a reaction that had conflicting interpretations on both sides, César Valdés began to gain prestige and prominence on the baseball, to the point that they were soft with him when he used his hands, literally, with a journalist who questioned his performance.
That’s how passionate he is with his stuff this burly big man, ruddy, who was born in San Juan de los Yeras and lives in Santa Clara, where he is explaining a decision that not only takes many by surprise, but that still leaves more orphan the worst props for a championship with the quality that everybody would like.
But that the public takes it on the referees is nothing new, and dressing in black to try to deliver justice implies that they call you names, boo you, and all sort of things and you event need a police escort to leave the stadium . At least I have never forgotten they chanted “son of a b…” to Alfredo Paz in the Sandino of my loves, some decades ago.
César assured the narrator Normando Hernández that if he were to be reborn he wouldn’t be a referee, because it is a very hard and thankless job. At the last National Series final he had to endure from the impertinence of some managers, to people blame him for Villa Clara winning its first title in almost two decades…
“I’m very discouraged by how they handled the criterion of arbitration. There has been no one to say: these are the referees we have, that is the preparation we give, these are judges who try to solve the problem. None of that was taken into account, neither the authorities nor the National Commission, or anything that has to do with baseball was concerned about the arbitration issue. I will not claim anything for me, because you claim and think you’re hurting someone and they take it on you, as they have taken before with other athletes, “he told journalist Mayli Estevez.
He pointed out, rightly, that nobody gave them a chance to defend themselves, or at least argue their decisions. Nor did anyone say anything about the living conditions of the referees, which may seem better than of the players, but involving family separation equalize the stumbling walk several months away from home, knowing that in the end nobody is going to thank them . On top of that constantly standing people saying that we no longer get an Amado Maestri, a Belen Pacheco, Ivan Davis or Nelson Diaz to impose discipline and earn the respect of disrespectful “respectable” and worth …
After 22 years in this job, a Classic, two Olympics and five World Cups, César Valdésis tired and without entrusting anyone but himself, he just ejected himself from a game that does not look good …
