El Beisbol

In Venezuela, the baseball fans express themselves in fiery terms: hundreds of candles twinkle in the stands when they are happy, bonfires rage in the concrete bleachers when they are mad. In the Dominican Republic, they swarm onto the field in such purposeful rage that offending umpires have fled in the police paddy wagon. In Cuba, they salute a good play by spraying spectators across the diamond with a fusillade of Roman candles.

In fact, no other baseball fan in the world celebrates his sport with the bellowing fervor of the Caribbean aficionado. He has plenty to shout about: winter baseball brings back the home-town boys who have streamed north to the U.S. to find fame in the majors. In the nine leagues around the Caribbean this season, fans could get a close-hand look once again at such stars as the White Sox's Luis Aparicio (Venezuela's Rapinos), the Indians' Vic Power (Puerto Rico's Ca-guas), the Giants' Orlando Cepeda (Puerto Rico's Santurce Crabbers) and the Senators' Pitcher Pedro Ramos (Cuba's Cienfuegos Elephants). In addition, U.S. teams use the Caribbean leagues to season their young players, this year sent down some 350 men to sweat in the winter sun. The result was a brand of ball not far from major-league standards.

Last week the season rose to a climax as Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela met in Panama in a round-robin fight for the twelfth annual Caribbean championship. When Panama's Elias Osorio hit a two-run homer over the wall to beat Venezuela in the bottom of the ninth, he was waylaid by a delirious mob on the third-base line. Frantic hands clutched his sleeve, pounded his back, hoisted him high and then dropped him. Waiting at home plate, Umpire Pat Orr fumed as he fought to keep his feet in the crush. "Be patient, Pat," shouted Panama's third baseman Hector Lopez (New York Yankees) as he struggled near by. "He'll make it sooner or later."

Osorio did eventually make it, but not before the crowd had twisted his thumb so enthusiastically that he could not play the next day against Cuba. Worse yet for Panama fans, Lopez announced that he was too sick to take the field. After Lopez' hapless sub had made two errors, orange husks began to swirl out of the stands like snow. Hundreds of spectators jammed around the dugout as desperate umpires begged Lopez to play so that the game could go on. Lopez finally acceded to the wishes of his public, but he went none for four as Cuba trimmed his team 10-7 and walked off with the championship. Around the Caribbean, baseball fans put away their Roman candles and paddy wagons for another year.

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