A lion in the winter league: Caracas has a friend in Jesús Lezama, 98
By César Augusto Márquez
It’s 7 p.m. on a winter day in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, where the temperature feels like summer all year long.
In the dusk of the waning day, the lights come on inside Estadio Universitario. A short, frail, elderly man carrying a small horn and giant foam-rubber finger embroidered in yellow, blue and red — the colors of the Venezuelan flag — gently ambles out to the field.
He’s dressed in the Leones (Lions) del Caracas’ white pinstripes, clearly too old to be even a coach. Yet he’s exactly the right age to carry out this ritual that dates back 75 years, ever since the club was founded in 1942.
See, Jesús Alejandro Lezama is the oldest baseball fan in Venezuela, if not in all of the Caribbean. Nicknamed Chivita, after his trimmed goatee beard, he has been an ardent supporter of the Leones since Day 1, horn and all.
“Every year, the team gives me a new uniform with the number corresponding to my age,” Lezama said in Spanish in a recent interview with La Vida Baseball. “I keep them in a collection in my museum, which is my home.”
A follower since Day 1
Lezama, 98, normally doesn’t like to talk on the telephone. But he can’t help himself on this day, letting lifelong memories freely flow. The Leones are currently in the playoffs. And Lezama is a case study in oral history.
“I’ve been a fan of Caracas going back when they were known as Cervecería Caracas and played at Estadio San Agustín,” Lezama said. “Even after they became Leones, they have always been Caracas to me. The club with 20 league championships, the team with the best players.”
Lezama, who prefers to be called by his last name, was born Feb. 9, 1919, in Tucupita, the capital city of the eastern state of Delta Amacuro, located in the swampy Orinoco River delta. And he was raised in the neighboring island-country of Trinidad and Tobago, where cricket and soccer were kings.
He didn’t convert to baseball until 1941, when the sport took hold across Venezuela after the national team traveled to Havana and upset Cuba in the finals of the Amateur World Series.
“Before that, more people played soccer in Venezuela. That team changed everything, at least it did for me. I remember listening to the games on the radio. It seems so long ago. I think that among the heroes of ’41, the only two still alive are Enrique ‘Conejo’ Fonseca and me, the fan,” Lezama said, laughing at his own joke.
Fonseca turned 100 last September. In comparison, Lezama seems a spry youngster. The father of 14 children, he remains passionate about the team that has won the most Venezuelan Professional Baseball League championships. The Leones’ gallery of retired numbers includes those of legends like Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio, shortstop Alfonso “Chico” Carrasquel, first baseman Andrés Galarraga and shortstop Omar Vizquel, on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year.
Even the ballpark and the surrounding grounds are historic. A multi-use stadium built in 1952 that holds 25,000 fans, it’s located inside the Central University of Venezuela. Designed by renowned architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva, the whole campus is considered a masterpiece of urban planning and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.
Ageless wonder
Despite his years, Lezama still likes to walk through the ballpark on game day blowing his horn and inciting fans to roar louder for the Leones.
“I used to take a bicycle horn to the ballpark, but the fans of the other teams would try and steal it,” Lezama said. “I don’t use the original one anymore. It’s safely put away.”
There’s seems to be a story to every item of Lezama’s attire. The uniform with his age on the back. The bicycle horn that survived the seasons and rival fans. The giant foam-rubber finger that he uses to keep the beat when they play Gloria al Bravo Pueblo, the Venezuelan national anthem.
“I got my first foam-rubber finger from my friend César Tovar, who rests in peace,” Lezama said. “He brought it to me from Minnesota, when he played with the Twins.”
Lezama used to make all road trips. Ailing knees have forced him to limit his forays to nearby cities. Nonetheless, he’s considered much more than a team mascot or another fan.
“They have always treated me as a ballplayer,” Lezama said.
The manager fan
Among his most memorable outings was the 1982 Caribbean World Series in Hermosillo, Mexico. Skippered by Chico Carrasquel, Caracas and Venezuela raced to the title by winning five of six games.
“I kept yelling stuff from the stands, and when we returned to the hotel, I felt bad because Carrasquelito was my friend,” Lezama recalled. “But he said, ‘Congratulations, you helped us win. You were telling us what to do. You were the manager.’”
Lezama has certainly forgotten more baseball then most fans know. He’s lived and suffered through the good, the bad and the ugly of Venezuelan baseball. Rest assured, even amid the current acute political and economic crisis, it’s mostly been good.
“Baseball has rewarded me with many friends. Like Antonio ‘Tony’ Armas. And Baudilio ‘Bo’ Díaz, who rests in peace,” Lezama said. “I’ve also seen young talent that would later become big stars. I remember Pete Rose. The Aloú brothers. And many others who wore this uniform.”
The season is winding down. If the Leones win the championship, they will again represent Venezuela at a Caribbean Series that will be held in Mexico. Were it to happen, Lezama would not accompany the team, though few would argue against the therapeutic effect such a trip would have on this man approaching a century of life.
“My family likes to say that all my ailments disappear every time the baseball season starts,” Lezama said. “I think that is true.”
Clearly, Father Time has been kind to Lezama. After all these years, he remains the fan with the loudest horn in the Caribbean.
Featured Image: Marcos Grunfeld M.
Inset Images: Lezama Family