Sometimes having a name that few people can pronounce correctly, much less SPELL correctly can be a burden for a kid. But when you grow up in the shadow of the tremendous pitching talent of John Candelaria, having that name is like wearing a badge of honor. Although my cousin John and I have never met, I have followed his career and discussed his wins and losses with other baseball fanatics in every state I've ever lived. There are even youngsters today who know who "The Candy Man" was.
I was a near celebrity when we moved to State College, Pennsylvania in the summer of '78. It was sixth grade for me... and for Pennsylvanians, especially the kids, I was a star by proxy. We moved again in early January 1979, this time to Macon, Georgia. There had not been a Candelaria in that area for nearly a quarter of a century, when John's uncle, my father, met and married my mother in 1952.
And it was that name that brought The Macon Telegraph (and News) to our door when The Pittsburgh Pirates went bat to bat against the Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 World Series. We made the front page that year, as we watched our cousin win
Game Six, forcing a seventh duel with the O's.
It's funny... when you talk baseball, as in politics, someone always has something to say. They will diss your team, boo your guys, challenge your choice for MVP. But when the name Candelaria has come up over the years, I've never heard a bad word spoken.
Sometimes people are curious about downturns in his career, but he, to this day, remains one of the most respected men to have played the game. His infamy lives on in the face of the no-hitter he pitched in 1976 at the age of 23. It lives on in his tremendous size and power; at 6'7", John is one of the tallest athletes to have played the game, and certainly to have played it from the pitchers mound, and certainly more so to have played it so well.
In 1986 there was a near-flawless win against the Boston Red Sox in the Championship Series with the Angels. There were many things this big man did will assurance and accuracy... and love for the game. I keep my maiden name in part because I honor what he did -- not only for baseball, but for our Puerto Rican heritage and for all Americans as well.
» Lisa Candelaria Bartlett is a manager in a large retail chain. She has an 11-year-old son, who is a top student and an up-and-coming musician. Her husband is self employed, a cabinet maker. They are currently residing with their cat, Rotten, in Pinehurst, GA.
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Posted September 10, 2001.
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