Caballero's Journey

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For the past two summers, you’d be hard pressed to find a better pitcher in the southwestern part of the country than Alfredo Caballero.  A mountain of a man, armed with a 96 mile-per-hour fastball, his resume boasts all-star selections, a Pitcher of the Year Award, a championship ring, and strikeout totals that resemble stats from players in video games.  “El Gallo Negro,” as he’s known, has been the toast of the town in Alpine, Texas, and recently received a promotion to the team in San Angelo, where his success continued.  Though things may seem to come easy to Alfredo now, they haven’t always been that way.

Born in Uvalde, Texas, Alfredo and two brothers, Victor Jr. and Marcus, grew up in a very poor family.  His mother and father, both hard workers, did their best to provide, but the family was without some of the luxuries other might take for granted.  Caballero remember winters as a boy when his mother would have to boil pots of water on the stove in their trailer home to fill the bathtub so he and his brothers could bathe.

Paying the bills was a family affair.  Since the age of four, Alfredo and his brothers would help their father, a mechanic, service freight trucks on Saturdays.  Not an easy task to begin with, the Caballero boys would have to travel all over southern Texas to service every big rig in Uvalde, Del Rio, and Eagle Pass, sometimes clocking 17-hour days.  During hurricane season, the trucks would travel distances close to a thousand miles in a single day, bringing supplies to affected areas.  The boys and their father would be forced to grease down the engines while they were still scalding hot from the truck’s long journeys, as the drivers did not have time to wait for them to cool before disembarking again.  To this day, Alfredo will invite you to try to find a piece of skin on his hand that is pinchable.  His palms are tough and course from years of abuse at the hands of scorching engine grease.

The job would begin before sunrise and finish long, long after sunset.  One occasion that stands out in Alfredo’s memories is when he, his father, and his brothers worked so late into the next night that his brother Marcus fell asleep on the hood of a truck in the midst of washing the windshield.  Alfredo shook him awake and they continued on until four or five in the morning when Alfredo’s mother came and insisted the boys stop and come home to sleep.  Alfredo’s father continued on to finish the job.

The baseball field was an escape for Alfredo, though even there the playing field was still not level.

The Raleys were a prominent family in Uvalde, and like the Caballeros, they had three sons, all of whom excelled in sports.  Terry Raley, boys’ father, had been a minor league baseball player in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system during the 1980s.  In Uvalde, Terry Raley would coach a little league team that featured the eldest brothers from each family, Russell Raley and Marcus Caballero.  Both Russell and Marcus were great shortstops, but Terry always gave the position to his son, and Marcus was relegated to right field.

Upset that Marcus never had a chance to play his best position, Victor Sr. decided to coach his own team the following season.  Victor Sr. had run track as a child, but had never played baseball and knew virtually nothing about the sport.  In fact, Alfredo was taught how to throw by his mother.

The team that Victor Sr. assembled, the Reds, was comprised of mostly Mexican children who had never played on an organized team before.  They had mostly played stickball, as they had been too poor to afford little league.  A rag-tag bunch, they were in stark contrast to the Raleys’ team, the Rangers, who were decked out in new jerseys and hats, and had the top of the line bats and helmets.  The Reds wore standard issue uniforms and all pitched in to buy the team one good bat.  The Rangers used Rawlings gloves, and the Reds bought their mitts at Walmart.

On top of the economic disparity between the two teams, there was another obvious difference: all of the Rangers’ players were white, and nearly all of the Reds players were of Mexican descent.

Though Alfredo says that he never experienced any overt racism, it was clear that, growing up in Uvalde, race relations were tense.  Walking through town during baseball season, Alfredo overheard a white woman, whom he actually knew, talking about the little league teams.  To a friend, she was accusing the Reds of being a racist team that only accepted Hispanics.  Upon noticing Alfredo and realizing that he had heard her rant, she became embarrassed and tried to smooth over her comments, but the damage had been done.

Despite their lower socio-economic status, inferior equipment, and a coach that didn’t know the sport, the Reds went on to win three consecutive little league championships behind Alfredo’s pitching, and his brothers’ play.

In high school, Alfredo would be teammates with Russell Raley, but the old rivalry lingered, and their relationship was not always the best.  Raley and another player from the old Rangers teams, Chase Gerdes, formed there own clique which created tension within the team.

While the Raleys and Gerdes were being recruited by big schools like Baylor, the University of Oklahoma, and Texas A&M, Alfredo was largely overlooked.  The team’s only reliable pitcher, Alfredo would pitch the biggest games, against the toughest opponents, and be forced to throw deep into the game, their coach not trusting anyone else.  As a result of the excessive workload, Alfredo would often struggle in the later innings of games, and often ended up losing by a slim margin, leading scouts to question his skill.

After pitching one season at Alvin Junior College, Alfredo transferred to division two University of the Incarnate Word, where he would have a turbulent, though successful, college career.

Brooks Raley made his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs this past season.  Cory, the youngest of the brothers, was drafted by the Cleveland Indians but turned down a pro contract to play at Texas A&M on a scholarship.  Russell Raley, the eldest brother, briefly played in the minor leagues for the New York Yankees before retiring due to injury.

            After bouncing around independent ball for a season after college, Alfredo found a home in Alpine.  He was the 2011 Pecos League Pitcher of the Year as a starter, and in 2012, was moved to a closer’s role, where he was dominant and helped the Cowboys win their first Pecos League championship.  He was also selected to represent Alpine on the all-star team in both seasons.  At the end of the season this year, he was promoted to the San Angelo Colts of the North American baseball league, taking a significant step up in the independent baseball ranks.

            The situation off the field has improved for the rest of the Caballero family, as well.  Gone are the 17 hour work days, touring southern Texas to service every truck in the area.  Victor Caballero Sr. signed a lucrative contract with one of Texas’ largest power companies, and is widely regarded as the best electrical mechanic around.  The Caballero bought a plot of land in Uvalde, and built themselves a new house.  The construction of their home, like their early service work and little league baseball play, was a complete family effort.  Marcus Caballero, having been a graphic design student, designed the blue prints for the entire home.  Different cousins and uncles helped with the sheet rock and roofing and plumbing.

Caballero will return to San Angelo for next season, and is expected to be the anchor at the end of their bullpen.  Though he may be a year or two older than the ideal prospect, there are few pitchers that have the makeup and poise that Alfredo possesses – and can throw a fastball in the mid-90s.  It hasn’t always been an easy road Caballero, but this may only be the beginning his baseball journey.