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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, March 3, 1999
Eagles drop final pre-district game
PECOS, Mar. 3 -- The Pecos Eagles missed out on a chance to
enter District 2-4A play with a winning record on Tuesday,
as the closed out their pre-district schedule with an 8-1
loss in Monahans to the Loboes.
Coach Tammy Walls said Monahans used a five-run second
inning to break things open, after Pecos had scored their
only run in the top of the inning.
"We had a couple of people in scoring position that we
didn't capitalize on thanks to some baserunning mistakes,"
Walls said. "We got our run in the second inning, but we
also left three people on base.
Walls said Katrina Quiroz' two-out RBI single got Pecos on
the scoreboard, but she added that on the play, "The runner
on second should have scored, but she turned around to look
at the ball and I had to hold her up at third." Catcher
Rebecca Wein then popped out to end the inning.
"That's just the sign of a young team. It still doesn't
register with them that you have to run hard with two out,"
Walls added.
Alexa Marquez took the loss for Pecos, though unlike last
year, Walls said the sophomore got better defensive help
this time around.
"We looked real good. They just hit the ball on us," she
said. "They had a couple of new players and this girl from
Kentucky hit the ball out on us."
"Kathy Maldonado stole a home run from the same girls that
hit it out. She reached over the fence to get it," Walls
added.
The loss left Pecos with a 3-4 record going into Saturday's
district opener, in El Paso against the Mountain View Lobos.
The Eagles' home district opener will be next Tuesday,
against Canutillo.
Cepeda gets long-delayed entry into Hall
By FRED GOODALL
AP Sports Writer
TAMPA, Fla., Mar. 3 -- It was the spring of 1953, and a
young teen-ager named Orlando Cepeda made quite an
impression among elite company.
Bill White and Willie McCovey, future Hall of Famers, took
note. So did Leon Wagner and Willie Kirkland, two more
prospects who would go on to have productive major league
careers.
``We were all with the Giants,'' recalled White, former NL
president and a member of the Veterans Committee that
elected Cepeda to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. ``We knew
then that Orlando was something special.''
Eventually, Cepeda would take over as the Giants' first
baseman -- in a lineup with Willie Mays, Juan Marichal and
McCovey -- after White was traded to St. Louis. Later, he'd
wind up with the Cardinals, replacing White in the lineup
again.
``When I see Orlando, he always kids me and says, `I've run
you out of a lot of positions,'' White said. ``And, he's
right.''
Cepeda, who hit 379 home runs in a 17-year career, joined
Negro Leagues pitcher Smokey Joe Williams,
turn-of-the-century manager Frank Selee and former umpire
Nestor Chylak as selections by the 12-man Veterans panel.
Among the former players, managers and executives receiving
support, but not the necessary nine votes for election, were
Bill Mazeroski, Dom DiMaggio, Joe Gordon, Bowie Kuhn, Dick
Williams and Whitey Herzog.
Marichal, a member of the Veterans panel, called Cepeda with
the good news that they would be teammates in the Hall of
Fame.
``As a rookie on the Veterans Committee, I'm glad he got in
on my first year,'' Marichal said. ``He was the type of
player who had no fear, the type of player you wanted
playing behind you.''
Cepeda batted .297 with 1,365 RBIs, and played in nine
All-Star games.
``I cried ... along with my wife (Miriam),'' said Cepeda,
whose chances for induction widely were believed to have
been hindered until now because of a 1975 marijuana
smuggling conviction.
``It's hard to explain the feeling ... I've been ready for
this for 17 years,'' Cepeda said at San Francisco's 3Com
Park, called Candlestick when he played there. ``When they
told me I was selected, I lost my mind.''
Induction ceremonies will be held July 25 at Cooperstown,
N.Y. Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount were elected
in January by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Cepeda, 61, now works as a community relations
representative with the Giants. The team also had a present
for him -- it announced the retirement of his No. 30 jersey.
Cepeda missed by just seven votes in the BBWAA election five
years ago, his final try with the writers. He came close
last year in voting by the Veterans.
A breakdown of voting was not released. However, 75 percent
-- or nine votes -- were required for election.
While his brush with the law once cast suspicion about his
character, White and other supporters said Cepeda has led an
exemplary life since serving 10 months in prison for the
drug conviction.
``He's a good man. He's worked extremely hard for the Giants
in the community. He lectures kids on what to do and what
not to do. I'm glad for him,'' White said. ``When we called
him, he said it was the happiest day of his life.''
In addition to playing for the Giants and Cardinals, Cepeda
had stints with the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox and
Kansas City Royals. Called the Baby Bull, he was the NL's
rookie of the year in 1958 with San Francisco and the
league's first unanimous MVP in 1967 with St. Louis.
Chylak, long-time AL umpire crew chief, had a 25-year major
league career that included working six All-Star games,
three league championship series and five World Series.
Williams, the 16th player elected for his accomplishments in
the Negro Leagues, pitched from 1910-32 with several teams,
including the Homestead Grays and New York Lincoln Giants.
The right-hander was credited with a winning percentage of
.624 and also made his mark as a tourist attraction of
sorts, facing top major league pitchers in exhibitions.
Over a 20-year period, Williams compiled a record of 22-7
with 12 shutouts against white teams featuring such big
league pitchers as Chief Bender, Rube Marquard, Pete
Alexander, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Selee, who had a winning percentage of .598, managed in the
NL with Boston and Chicago from 1890 to 1905 in the National
League with Boston and Chicago. He died in 1909.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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