Talk:Max León

From BR Bullpen

My name is Ricardo Orozco. My family and I lived in Alanta from the early 1960's. During Max's tenure with the Atlanta Braves, my father, Julio Orozco Diaz was good friends with him. My father was killed in 1979, but my step mother Vicki, now 79, still talks about Max and how nice he was. Some of my memories....My father's nickname was "Chico" and he was a jazz musician, known especially in the latino community of Atlanta from the mid 1960's and through the 70's. Consequently he came to know Max, but I do not know when or how they first met. I remember Max coming to our house on Alameda Street in Atlanta to visit, relax and generally party. For one of the Braves games, around 1976 (I was 16 years old), I recall painting a large banner from a full white bed sheet the said "Atlanta wants the MAX!". I believe Max was going to be a starter this game, so we were happy and excited for him. My dad and I took it to the park, and prior to the start of the game, I went over the famous Indian tee pee in left field, and asked the Braves mascot, know as "Chief Geronimo", if I could hang it from the front of the tee pee, which he surprisingly consented. I don't recall if Max remembers seeing it, but it may very well have been the largest single display of support for him while in the U.S. majors. Another time, Max had borrowed our classic, deep purple, 1968 Cadillac Coupe De Ville convertible, perhaps for a hot date. I remember him returning one afternoon and I happened to be there when he pulled up. Apparently it had sprung a coolant leak and was overheating badly. So Max got a great idea and grabbed a bucket of water. He threw it on the entire engine compartment! Well that sure cooled it down, but later we found the big 400-something engine cracked. No matter, my dad loved Max and just shrugged it off. Max later bought a new 1977 Monza Mirage, which was a very hot little sports car at the time. It was only about the size of a Vega, but has a 305 V-8 engine that barely fit under the hood, red and blue racing stripes, and a hot red interior. It's sort of a cult classic today, there is a web site devoted to these cars if you Google "Monza Mirage". Apparently Max had a heavy foot and started getting a number of tickets from the Atlanta police in this rather extroverted car. So around 1978, he gave the Monza to my dad, just to take over the payments. My dad had it for about a year, which after my father died, I inherited the car. I kept it until about 1986, when sold it in Vallejo California. I believe it ended up in a junk yard in Los Angeles. That's all I remember myself. I recently was pleasantly surprised to find that Max was elected to the Mexican equivalent of the Hall of Fame in 1997. He also was hired as some sort of manager for the Mexicali Eagles in April 2006 http://www.mexicalisport.com/noticiasms/news_120.html . His picture from this announcement shows he's aged very well, for he's about 56 today(2006). I think my father "Chico" is looking down on Max and very proud of what he has accomplished in his career. Although I lived in San Diego from 1991-2005, I never was aware Max lived so close. I now live with my wife Debbie in a small town in Montana.