CAMAGÜEY.- He is the same simple man from more than a decade ago, the one who greets everyone on the way to his other house, the Cándido González stadium. Leslie Anderson (Lele) returned to the cradle that saw him born, because he knows it is due to this beautiful Island, as Orishas sings. "I am Cuban. I was it wherever I was, and I always will be, ”that was how blunt our dialogue began.
After an impatient wait, both he and the audience that chanted him, had the dreamed premiere in the 59th series of the Cuban ball. He was able to debut in Camaguey, and he did well, and at the key moment. “A year ago, I lost my dad. He had asked me that if one day they let the players return to play, I would do so and finish my sports career here. I keep a promise today.
"Miguel Borroto, my first director in the National Series and whom I consider a father, spoke with me and I took the opportunity."
As a grateful son, he never abandoned the Bulls; from a distance he supported them, because despite the millionaire contracts, first with Tampa and then with the Yomiuri Giants, he needed rope, he needed transfusion, blood from his land.
“I always followed Cuban baseball, and I'm a fan of Camagüey. The year the team qualified I enjoyed it as if I had been.
“I know that my return adds to the great expectation with the team this year. To the Camagüey’s people, who have been so aware of my procedures, that they continue to open their hearts to me, because that support is one of the things that are most missed outside. Knowing that I will live that again means an incentive. ”
Aware of how much he can teach his teammates, in the club house or on the ground, Anderson spares no time to offer advice with humility. He is surrounded by Leonelito, Darce, Segura, boys who had not coincided with him, but they do know that he is a tremendous player.
“We have great talent in the team, I am amazed by so many quality young people. I think to help them in everything, to show them how to do things better, to the defense or the offensive, from my experience. My turn. I will play with the children of several players from my beginnings that I admired a lot, that opportunity to share what I learned is unique and I will take advantage of it. If each one does what he has to do, we can move forward and dream about the result the fans expect. ”
His participation in foreign leagues has not distanced him from the problems of the ball in Cuba.
“You have to put more science on baseball. It helped me a lot, for example, to see me in the videos and identify my mistakes. When the technique is improved everything else comes out, you adjust yourself; otherwise you cannot hit pitches that range between 96 and 100 miles. Those details seem minor, but they are not.
“It is important to update with what is done in the world, Borroto is applying the training methods that are used at other levels.
“Unfortunately, the agreement with the MLB could not be finalized, which would have helped a lot, but will come at some point. Hiring abroad, mainly in Japan, can raise the technical level of our ball. Wherever you can hire the boys, you have to do it. So they know another way to play and return with a higher level.
“However, what I learned in Cuba was very useful for competing at other levels. The preparations of the national teams, the Classics, were the basis of what I achieved outside the country. I owe it to the people who worked with me here, from my parents, to coaches and teachers of ‘Fajardo’. I have no doubt that our ball will return to the place it deserves. ”
Shortly before his first training for this campaign, while walking towards the batting cage, with the team jacket of his passions, I heard him express to Lele, excited: "this is my land."
Like Orishas, he did not forget that his treasure is in the roots that run beneath his skin.
“Although some think that it is nothing for what I lived abroad, it is not the same. A good son always returns home, and I will try to give the answer they expect from me. I am here and I don't believe it, and I feel again the pressure to do it right. The choirs of: ‘it goes’ or ‘Lele, you decide’, will be heard again in the arena of the Bulls. ”
The 54 of the Camagüey teams reveal that they did not come with the aspiration to return to “Cuba”. “We'll see if it happens, that was the biggest thing I did in my career. But I have proposed to help my province. I have been in two play offs but I have not been champion. It is still my dream.
“I will do nothing but play with Camagüey, the province that gave me the opportunity to be Leslie Anderson, to reach the national team. I have a commitment to the people and my director. It's the best to play with Marino again, with ‘Viyo’ and Ayala. My career is coming to an end; I came to finish it where it all began. ”
- Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez