http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/sports/baseball/24venezuel

Santana’s Hometown Awaits His Next Move
David Rochkind for The New York Times



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/sports/baseball/24venezuela.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Pablo Duarte, 8, practices baseball with at the Estadio Julio Santana de Leon, the small baseball stadium in Tovar, Venezuela where Johan Santana learned to play ball.

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By DANIEL CANCEL
Published: January 24, 2008

TOVAR, Venezuela — “Welcome to the territory of Johan Santana,” reads a sign on the wall of the local baseball field in this Andean town more than 6,400 feet above sea level in southwestern Venezuela.
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David Rochkind for The New York Times

Johan Santana, as a 14-year-old, began his run to the Minnesota Twins in Tovar, Venezuela. He has won two Cy Young awards and is the most coveted player on the trade market.
David Rochkind for The New York Times

Jesús Santana, Johan’s father, above, talked of the presence of scouts in the town, where baseball is a popular pastime. For Minnesota fans, right, Santana remains topic No. 1.

Santana, the Minnesota Twins’ ace and perhaps the best pitcher in the major leagues, is a legend in his hometown. A bright yellow fire engine poked out of the firehouse garage, with “Cy Young 2006, 2004” written on it. A Santana folklore has emerged, with some of the 46,000 residents recalling how he helped his uncle sell bread out of the back of a station wagon called La Conga, or how he was sent home from his first baseball practice for wearing shorts.

Now known as El Gocho, a somewhat derogatory name given to people from the Andean region, Santana has thrown the most popular party in town two years running: El Cy Youngazo, or the Great Cy Young. After his latest hometown visit, he moved on to Fort Myers, Fla., to have a house built and prepare for spring training.

Which team he will report to remains uncertain: he can become a free agent after the 2008 season, so the Twins are trying to trade him, making Santana, 28 and left-handed, the most coveted player on the market this off-season. The Mets, the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have expressed interest.

Santana did not respond to interview requests through his representative in Venezuela, César Díaz. The Tovar resident who knows him best — and may know which team Santana would like to end up with — is his father, Jesús. Dressed in laceless black shoes, jean shorts, a T-shirt from the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, dark glasses and a gold chain, he vaguely resembles his son and is known as El Negro.

“I’m the same man I was before Johan got famous — I still enjoy hanging out with my friends and playing ball,” Jesús said in Spanish. “Are we living better now than before? Of course. But we have remained humble and continue to live in the same house.”

Tovar is situated in a small valley surrounded by green mountains. It is among the important agricultural municipalities in the state of Mérida and is renowned for its coffee. The commercial center and streets are lively, but bromeliads growing on electric lines and cows eating grass in abandoned lots give it a rural feel.

The Santana family home has been recently remodeled and is located discreetly in an area of narrow streets that are difficult to access with larger vehicles. Santana’s in-laws live on the same block.

Santana is the second of five children and apparently was not the best baseball player in the group when they were children. His brother Franklin, now a lawyer, was more skilled, Jesús said. Johan has two daughters and has known his wife, Yasmile, since he was 9.

In the stands of the Julio Santana de León Stadium, which is not named for a relative, Jesús spoke about the virtues of Tovar for producing baseball talent and the constant presence of scouts visiting the town to whisk off new prospects to baseball academies in central Venezuela.

“Players have it easier these days,” he said. “Before, you could only get by with raw talent and physical ability, but now kids are taken to academies at young ages and their skills are honed.”

In addition to Santana, the most notable baseball prospects from Tovar are Oswaldo Sosa, a minor league pitcher in the Twins’ organization, and Julio Puente, a pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays’ organization.

“Some good ball is played here in Tovar,” Jesús said. “We’re fighting in the courts to get new stands built to accommodate the demand. The president promised to construct new bleachers in 2004 when Johan won the Cy Young, but we still haven’t seen any action. We don’t blame the president — rather the people below him.”

Santana has apparently done his part. His off-season visit to Tovar includes a toy drive, which brought in 14,000 toys in December. He started a foundation in 2006 that provided assistance for the local hospital and gave gloves and balls to children in surrounding areas. That yellow fire truck was donated by Santana and the Twins in 2006; the firefighters boast that it is the largest in Mérida and one of the most important in the country.

Santana also raises money for local causes with a home run derby. His first coach, Luis Morales, laughed as he recalled the home runs Santana hit over the right-field fence and onto a nearby gym. Santana has a .258 career batting average in 31 at-bats during interleague play.

As a young prospect, Santana played center field. Morales said he never imagined that Santana would end up a pitcher in the major leagues. He proudly showed off his autographed Twins hat and old pictures of Santana.

“I always compared him to Ken Griffey Jr. as a kid,” Morales said. “He was a lefty, with a great arm and excellent speed who batted third in the lineup. He can still hit balls out of the park.”

No matter which team Santana ends up with, thousands of people will join him in December for the next El Cy Youngazo. Gifts will be passed out, musical groups will entertain the crowds, and beer provided by Santana’s sponsor, Regional, will be abundant. Perhaps his friends and family will simply have to trade their Twins caps for another team, and Santana will have to sign his old coach’s bill again.