Here, baseball is the name of the game.
Great pride is registered in the fact that big names from Venezuela litter the rosters of Major League teams in the United States — players like New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana and New York Yankees outfielder Bobby Abreu.
Because of such connections, the hats and jerseys of American baseball teams are popular items and a common part of the wardrobe here.
"We love baseball," a grinning tour guide tells her group of visitors on a Caracas sidewalk.
Venezuelan baseball teams and clothing items are equally popular, and the season here comes during what is winter in the U.S., although youth leagues can be seen playing all year.
Despite mounting inflation, where a dollar buys much less than it did a few years ago, Venezuelans flock to sporting goods stores or black market vendors on the street to buy their favorite team colors.
A typical
Using baseball to win the hearts and minds of the Venezuelan people apparently is of interest to the Bush administration, as well.
The U.S. Embassy, using money obtained through federal drug-fighting programs, purchases baseball equipment and gives it to underprivileged children and youth teams here as a goodwill gesture.
"It's a very popular program," an Embassy press aide said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez certainly has his share of baseball passion, and he is more than willing to talk about it.
Chavez enjoys close ties with Cuba, another Latin American country that cherishes its baseball fever, and one of his favorite stories is about the challenge he made on television to his mentor, Fidel Castro.
"I thought it was forgotten. Then Fidel sent a letter 'I accept your challenge'," Chavez shared through an interpreter in a chair-side chat inside the Presidential Palace.
Chavez told Castro to get his team ready. Meanwhile, Chavez said he himself, a former baseball player, began to train by jogging and exercising, including during official trips abroad. "I trained in China, doing pushups," and more jogging, he said.
"So, we set a date," Chavez recalled.
Chavez loaded his team with professional Venezuelan players from teams in the U.S. and Venezuela, and Castro did the same with native Cubans.
They met on a field in Cuba, and Chavez and Castro joined their teams on the field.
Chavez was up to bat when "this big, fat guy with a long beard" took the mound. He wasn't sure what to think of the pitcher, but took his place in the batter's box, ready to show what he could do as el presidente the baseball player.
"Wham!" Chavez described the pitch that made a loud pop in the catcher's mitt as it blew past him.
"Wham!" he described strike two, in his eccentric fashion of storytelling.
"Then, Fidel called time out. He went out to the mound to talk to his pitcher, and said to him, This is Hugo Chavez! Be careful!'" Chavez said of Castro's warning to his flame-throwing pitcher.
The pitcher looked at Castro puzzled, Chavez said, and replied, "El Comandante, that's the slowest ball I have!"
Chavez laughed as he recalled the moment, and only later did Chavez learn the hard-throwing "big, fat guy" was Jose Contreras of the New York Yankees, known throughout the Big Leagues for his 90-plus mph fastball.
Troy Turner is the editor of The Daily Times. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 450, Farmington, N.M., 87499; or at tturner@daily-times.com.
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