Torrealba endured heartaches on his way to Colorado

Clay Latimer, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 15, 2007 at midnight

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Yorvit Torrealba was trying to stay positive, but it just wasn't working.

Sitting in the San Francisco Giants clubhouse in summer 2003, one dark thought chasing another, the young Venezuelan catcher was beset by worries, no longer sure he was tough enough or, perhaps, good enough to hang on.

In Caracas, his relatives had become inviting targets for the kidnappers who routinely preyed on the families of high-salaried baseball players.

Two months earlier, his grandmother had died, a devastating loss that still numbed.

But this was the low point.

An their Bay Area apartment, his wife, Milangela, was battling colon cancer, trying hard not to sink so far from home.

"A few times, I'd call her and say I was playing that night and wanted her to come to the ballpark," he said. "I just wanted her to get away; I didn't want her to think about it. But she didn't want to do anything. She lost a lot of weight. The chemo was really hard on her.

"It was so hard. I was just hoping the year could be over. My wife was leaning on me, but I really wasn't leaning on anyone. I wanted to go off, I needed to go off. I needed to lay into somebody. I needed to talk to somebody. I didn't know what to do.

"I was even thinking, 'You know, I don't even want to play anymore. This is driving me crazy.' I wanted to take care of my wife. And if she didn't get better, I was already thinking about the worst: How was I going to raise my son by myself?"

Good times now

Today, Torrealba is a solid starting catcher who can deliver the big hit, as he did Sunday night with a three-run home run in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

Known for his intensive preparation, the smart way he handles pitchers and a playful sense of humor, Torrealba is living the life he imagined when he signed his first contract with the Giants at age 16.

What Torrealba never imagined was the rocky, unnerving route that would lead him to Colorado - all the trials and tragedies that would come to a head in 2003, one year after his major league debut and his first trip to the World Series.

"You could see the hurt in him that summer - you could see the worry," said Jose German, a reporter who has covered Torrealba for years. "A lot of things cross your mind when someone so close to you is sick, so he's been through a lot."

Added Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd: "He's got the art of perseverance down. He epitomizes this club's heart."

Torrealba had a romantic view of professional baseball players until he became one.

As a boy, he learned the basics on a rocky dirt field near his Caracas home, where groundballs suddenly turned into flying objects.

Concerned about his safety, he asked to become a catcher so he could strap on protective gear.

At 10, he knew he wanted to play in the majors, and at 13, he played for a national junior team that traveled to Brazil for a tournament.

In 1994, after graduating from high school, he asked his mother if he could sign with the Giants.

"She always supported me because she liked baseball," he said. "She knows a lot more than a lot of people about the sport."

16-year-old rookie

About a year before signing the contract, Torrealba met a girl who was vacationing in Caracas - Milangela, who was 3 years older. Their son, Yorvit Eduardo, now 9, was born a couple of years into his pro career - a career that almost ended as it started.

After running up triple-figure phone bills every month during his rookie season in Bellingham, Wash., Torrealba told his mother he wanted to come home early.

"I was on my own at 16," he said. "You don't know anyone, you don't speak the language."

Added German: "It's not only the language barrier but the culture differences. It hits you very hard because it's hard to identify yourself. And then there's the food - a shocker, a real shocker."

But his mother wouldn't let him quit, and slowly, he worked his way up the chain. In 2000, he made $38,000 and sent a $300 check home each week. But his contributions didn't end there.

In December 1999, floods and mudslides devastated Venezuela, killing as many as 50,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. A river running through his wife's hometown of El Guapo overflowed and swept away the family house.

His mother-in-law, Yolanda Alvarez, and her other children fled their home for higher ground, remaining there for several hours.

The entire Alvarez family moved in with Torrealba, his wife and 2-year-old son until he could afford to rent a home for them.

"It was crazy," he said. "So many people died who shouldn't have died. It was like, 'Why is this happening?' "

In August 2001, Torrealba finally made his major league debut, seven years after signing as a nondrafted free agent for $700 a month.

Potential target

Considered the Giants' catcher of the future, Torrealba was on the active roster for the 2002 World Series against the Angels.

But the good times ended when he returned to a country paralyzed by a general strike and violent crime. Every major leaguer was a potential target in Venezuela.

Houston outfielder Richard Hidalgo was wounded in the left arm in an attempted carjacking. Pitcher Ugueth Urbina's mother was kidnapped for 5 1/2 months before she was rescued by police. When Minnesota pitcher Johan Santana was awarded the 2004 American League Cy Young Award, Venezuela president Hugo Chavez sent five armed guards to protect his family indefinitely.

Scared about venturing outside his neighborhood in 2003, Torrealba eventually hired a bodyguard to protect his family.

"I was definitely worried," he said. "When I was back in the U.S., I actually flew them up here for a couple weeks because they were kind of panicked. I was panicked, too. It was a little crazy."

When he arrived at spring training in 2003, Torrealba hoped to become the Giants' starting catcher. But just a few months later, he walked into a nightmare that he and his wife couldn't shake, a dark period that started with a visit to a San Francisco doctor in early June.

"After that, I couldn't focus, to be honest with you," he said. "I'd go to the ballpark but . . . the whole season was just a blur. A lot of stuff happened. But there's nothing you can do except try to make yourself and family better."

Four years later, Milangela's cancer is in remission, Torrealba said. Though they separated for a while, Yorvit and Milangela are a couple again, sharing a life they imagined 13 years ago when Yorvit left for the United States, and full of grand plans.

"It would definitely mean a lot to my family if we make it to the World Series," he said. "They're going to come up here if (it happens).

"This is a dream come true, especially after all that's happened. But that's obvious. There's no need to explain."

latimerc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2596

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