'Galvez Trades Desert for Sea, Mystique
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger
January 17, 2041: Desert Hot Springs, California – It was a cool 74 degrees as I left the rental car agency at the Palm Springs International Airport and headed north towards Desert Hot Springs, California, to meet with Miguel Angel Galvez for the first time in over 20-years.
Then, the young 22-year old was the 10th overall pick of the Aurora Borealis in the 2016 draft, coming off an impressive college career at Minnesota where he had led the Lucky Rodents to a College World Series title and as a sophomore had a 26-game hitting streak. He impressed me with a deep understanding of the game as we would chat briefly during spring training – especially early on when he was more involved in just catching bullpens, but even then, this young, brash kid was pointing out mechanical flaws in the likes of ‘Sawmill’ and Provost. Ryan Holbrook cozied up next to me one of those days and told me, ‘One day this kid will make a hell of a manager.’
And now the ‘Stork’s words have come true. I’m driving into the Sonoran Desert to speak to Aurora’s new Rookie ball manager – and not strolling through the streets of San Luis Rio Colorado with a group of young, hopeful prospects with Miguel Angel – the Latin American History expert sharing the intricacies of murals that were found on the sides of buildings.
I drove up to Miguel’s home – a classic desert abode, designed to simulate an old adobe structure – but very modern with it’s design, surrounded by cacti and Joshua trees, a pool in the back and a eye-opening collection of Latin-American art – artificats, paintings; it was a sight to behold.
The first question as we sat down with a pair of Modelo’s, was, “Why did the club lose faith in you so quickly? Everything they said suggested you were the future – Scott Vinson was aging…?”
“There was no explanation given. I think… frankly, Sergio was from Aurora – grew up there… They inversted a #1 pick in Rusty the previous year…”
“Sounds like it was a bad combination…”
“Yeah. I asked Will – when he called about this job, actually, and he was honest. He said ‘I f’d up, and if I had it do again, I would’. You look back on it, and Aurora ended up trading with Reno for Jesus Negrete two-years later and it cost them a #1 pick. Maybe not their best moment.”
“Yeah – what they got from Jesus, compared to what you were doing with Duluth, they would have been better off keeping you – and it would have been cheaper.”
“Karma’s a bitch, as they say.” Galvez shaking his head, “They shipped me to Duluth for Dave Barker and ‘Zoom’ breaks down a year later and is out of the game. Can you imagine, though, how good those teams would have been – how many more titles might they have won if Barker stayed healthy? They had Provost, ‘Tugboat’, ‘Sawmill’ – they had Gunner to start 2023 – lordy that would have been a Hall of Fame rotation.”
“So now you are in Montserrat, managing the Rookie League team. What brought that on?”
“You know, it’s funny. Sometimes you just always have a soft spot in your heart for the team that drafted you. Despite the bad feelings at the time they traded me. Will called, he asked. Next thing I’ve got Michel at my door, Ryan and ‘Whiskey’ on the phone. I had a chance to observe those guys – how hard they worked and how generous they were with their time – looking to help out the youngsters.”
“And now they are all back at Aurora, coaching and continuing that legacy.”
“And now they are all back at Aurora... You look at the Organization’s coaching staff – it’s littered with guys who grew up in the organization: Carlisle, ‘Ice Cold’, ‘Tugboat’, Nick Heath, Juan Suarez – even a guy like Sam Gordon, who I was working with in minor league camp after he was drafted – 15th round, I think. Even him.”
“You can’t forget it’s a business – but you also can’t forget when people are good to you.”
“You’re right, Ray. And when ‘Stork’ called me – he was down at Montserrat, working winterball stuff with the young minor leaguers…” Miguel Angel paused, “I knew this was the right job to take. I never thought I would get back into baseball – no one ever asked, and I was content being home, studying Latin art, Latin literature…”
As I got up to leave I asked Aurora’s new minor league manager what his favorite piece of Latin Literature was, and his reply was quick. “Currently I’m reading Lorca. Federico García Lorca – he actually was Spanish, living in the region around Granada. Right now, I’m reading Romancero gitano or the Gypsy Ballards.”
With that he left me with a translation – recited, from memory, right there in his driveway”
“This one is called the Romance of The Moon, The Moon”
Thus I left Miguel Angel Galvez – that’s the type of soul Aurora is bringing to the Paradise League – kinda fitting.
The Moon came to the blacksmith’s forge
with her bustle of spikenard flowers.
The boy is gazing, gazing.
The boy is gazing at her.
In the swirling air
the Moon sways her arms
revealing, lewd and pure
her hard tin breasts.
“Run, Moon! Run Moon, run! If the Gypsies come
they will turn your heart
into white rings and necklaces.”
“Child, let me dance.
When the Gypsies come
they will find you upon the anvil,
your little eyes closed.”
“Run, Moon! Run Moon, run!
I can feel their horses now.”
“Child, let me be. Do not step
upon my starched whiteness.”
The horseman came closer,
beating the drum of the plains.
Inside the blacksmith’s forge
the boy’s eyes are closed.
Through the olive grove came
the Gypsies of bronze and of dreams.
Their heads held high,
their eyes half shut.
How the owl hooted,
oh, how she sang in the tree!
The Moon sails through the sky
holding a child by the hand.
Inside the forge they are weeping.
The Gypsies are crying aloud.
The air is watching, watching.
The air is keeping watch.
