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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1994)
Cepeda aims for major league, tries to create own identity By Dan Pearson (ot the Oegon Da&y (metant The first base dugout is crowd ed and uncomfortable. The old wooden bench, barely wide enough to sit on. is littered with beat-up gloves and crushed |Hi|x>r cups A hot breeze blows in from left field, teasing our sweaty faces with cool comfort, and kit king dirt into our eyes. None of this seemed to bother Male (dm Ope da. "1 love baseball," he confessed witli a slight act uni remmisc nut of his native Puerto Kic o Cepe da wearing the Emeralds' green p met Ion uniform, and sets, hands on his knees, elbows [xiinted out ward. watching a .Southern Ore gun player take batting prac.tire "I never wanted anything else1 Being the son of should-be hall-of fainer Orlando Cepeda, it was not hard to iH-lieve. Malcolm spent Ins early days playing ball for Lake Howe High School in Winter Park, Florida He was drafted by the Kansas (illy Royals after Ins senior year, but elected to attend junior col lege in Fairfield,California where his father lives Cepeda began working toward a psychology degree and c om pleted two years of sc booling before being drafted again by the Kovals. He1 was seine ted in the thirteenth round "1 am very excited," said Cepe da. "to have the opportunity to play with the organization whom my father finished his uirwer." Malcolm spent his rookie year piny mu in Puerto Rico where he oegan to feel the shadow of his father's career "I wasn't ready." said Cepeda. "for all of the comparisons made to my father and myself My dad is a large man and I am not as big, so I was hassled about my abili ty to hit the long hall People i ompare me to my father here in Ameriizi but not as much as they dirt in Puerto Rico. It bothers me when they speak only negatives I'm my own person I don’t try to l«.< like my father " Me does not need to Anyone who has attended an Rms game knows how exciting Malcolm is to watch He is a favorite with the kids, and i re ntes a buz/ among Eugene fans whenever he steps to the plate "I alway s try to plnv intense," said Cepeda "I'm not someone who |ust giws out then* and plays the game I have to talk and veil My teammates sav it helps moti vate them as well " Malcolm’s favorite aspect of playing in Eugene is the support from the Emeralds fans, ('lass A Imllclubs frequently have small turnouts Average attendant e at Civic Stadium is nearly 3,000 |x*r game This excites the young first baseman •Tvt> actually been ns ogmzed around town." admits Opeda. "But 1 don't think I'm a big shot I'm still the same old Malcolm. You have to stay friendly bwause the opportunity to play ball will not always he there Mv dad always told me when mv career ends, people will remember the way I treated them When the game ends, you have to come hack to reality " Public relations is not (he only bit of information Malcolm picked up from his father. "Mv dad used to coach me a lot." said Opeda "Sometimes players like Juan (•onzalez or Bar ry Bonds will come by the house to talk hitting. It's interesting to hear what the big hoys have to say I (list keep my mouth close and try to pick up as much as I tan." Malcolm's biggest aspiration is to make it to the major leagues It won't tie easy The weight of his father's career will make it dif ficult to establish his own iden tity. "! haven't felt the pressure yet." said Opeda, "hut I know it will he there I play for myself, but I also want to keep my father's name going strong I don’t want people to forget about his career " SHINOl f tVl m»*Kl Malcom Cepeda, a native ol Puerto Rico, longed to play baseball all his life. The Ems have helped make hla dream come true. Missed opportunities prove costlv in Ems’ 2-1 loss to Rockies By Chris Metz Far <ft» (hOQan (W» l ttwt&kt The scoring opportunities were few and fur between for tfie home team Wednesday ntgfit ,is the Bern) Rockies slipped past tfie Emeralds with a 2-1 vie • lory in front of 1,000 plus at Civic Stadi uni. fiend first baseman Jem Mathews' pro vided all the offense necessary with his two-out single off starting pitcher Andres Lopez that scored Gary (ones and Pookie Jones. The Emerald pitching managed to sta bilize things after the damage in the first, scattering four hits over the final eight innings, hut the Kms hats were unable to follow suit and managed to si ore just one run on six hits The sixth inning proved to lie the cross roads for the Kms stu ks Sei und baseman led Hausen led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and was followed two batters later by a Donovan Delaney single Third baseman Sean McNally drew a walk from starting pin her Brent Crowther to load the bases with one out Things < ouldn't have looked lietter for the Kms with the bases loaded and team RBI leader Scott Finoni at the plate. Pinoni could only manage a sharp grounder, which Bend third baseman Link larrett fired home, l atching Hansen at the plate The throw down to first hit Pinoni in the hack, m effec t, breaking up an inning ending double play and allow ing the only Emerald run to come ai ross the plate m the form of Delaney With McNally on third, Pinoni sur prised everyone by attempting e delayed steal of second tut resulted in a run down Mi Nally was thrown out trying to score while Pinoni tried to keep the 'When you're not hitting well, sometimes you've got to try and trick them. It just ditlnt work.' Brian Poldberg, Eugene manager in fielders busy "When you’re not hitting well, some times you've gut to try and trick them." said Eugene manager Brian Poldberg. "It just didn't work Crowther. who was occasionally wild, but effective, combined with Bend reliev er Brian Rose to hold the fans to the one earned run on six hits, and struc k out 11 hatters along the way. The win was Crowther's first of the sea son and was only his second start of the season. Rose earned his second save, fan ning seven Eugene batters in the final three innings Lopez suffered the loss, evening his season mark at 2-2 The Ems have struggled to keep pace with the Southern division-leading Boise Hawks, who had won five games in a row going into Wednesday night's contest with Southern Oregon. The Ems remain in second place behind the Hawks "You try to keep it positive as much as possible," said i’oldberg, referring to the state of the team. "Baseball's a game of negativity. Sometimes you've got to look at yourself in the mirror." The two teams conclude their series tonight at Civic Stadium. The scheduled starting pitchers are Tim Byrdak (3-2) for the Ems and Scott LaRock (2-4) for Bend. “31 years of Quality Service” Mercedes • BMW • Volkswagen Audi • Datsun • Toyota GERMAN AUTO SERVICE, INC. 342-2912 2025 Franklin Blvd. Eugene, Oregon, 97402 «*77 8 Oregon Dw frv/.v.f Juiv .> >•»■« Blazers coach finds out what its all about SALT LAKE CITY (AD — H«ad coaches usually don't coach NBA summer league teams. I’ ) Carlesimo doesn't have a choice the Portland Trail Blazers coach doesn't have any assistants. Still. Carlesimo wasn't com plaining during a series of work outs for young players and free agents in preparation for play in the Rocky Mountain Revue sum mer league. 'This is fun," Carlesimo said in the sweltering Salt Lake City gym Tuesday night The team began play Wednes day with an H-t-72 victory over Denver. James Robinson led Blazers with 17 points. "We didn't always play well, but wo played hard.” Carlesimo said after his coaching debut. Carlesimo said he hopes to hire some assistants soon With out a staff, he said he doesn't expect to put in much of the offense he will use in the regular season. The coach has been offering a taste of his spirited and intense coaching style at the summer camp. Carlesimo's practices are dosed, but he allowed reporters in briefly during Tuesday night's workout. Although Carlesuno has a rep utation for being loud when he works with players, he didn't do any yelling while reporters were around. But he did a lot of teaching and criticizing. He often used his well-known sense of humor to get his point across. "1 really enjoy P.J.,” center Kevin Johnson said. "He teaches you a lot and makes it really clear what he wants, so there's no excuses. If you don't do something right, he'll let you know. He's got a very positive atti tude. Some guys think he yells a lot, but to me. he’s got a very positive attitude." Jaren Jackson, who played against Carlesimo’s Soton Hall teams when he was at George town. also apprei iates his new coach. "He can make you laugh and make his point at the same time," Jackson said. "I'm used to all the other stuff, the yelling and everything; it's nothing to me.” Usually, NBA head c oaches ‘I really enjoy P.J.He teaches you a lot and makes it really clear what he wants, so there’s no excuses. If you don’t do something right, he’ll let you know.’ — Kevin Johnson, Blazer center don't coach the summer league teams They leave that to their assistants. But C -arlesimo has no assistants yet. although he says he hopes to hire some soon. Without a staff, he said he doesn't expect to put in much of the offense he will use in the regular season. It was sweltering in the Salt l ake City gym for Tuesday night's practice, but Carlesitno wasn't complaining. "This is what it's all about." he said.
