There isn’t a book on how to raise a child. “He told me, ‘When you have your children, you do what you want, but I did it that way and look where you are,’ ” Julio said. Years later, the subject was broached between father and son over drinks. Julio viewed his father as a “military man, like a general.” Julio rarely struggled, but if he did - gave up hits or threw pitches his father didn’t like - Carlos scolded him in front of his teammates and ignored him for days. As a kid you don’t realize how good he is, but everyone in Mexico knew who Julio Urías was.”Ĭarlos coached his son’s teams from the time he was 6 until he became a professional. And then he would hit two or three home runs a game. He would strike out 11 or all 12 batters. “In our 9- and-10-year-old league, they would only let you pitch four innings,” recalled Fidel Alba, Julio’s youth league catcher. Julio’s dominance earned him spots on national teams, and he represented Mexico in international tournaments in Central America, South America and United States. “And every time Julio was pitching or hitting, I had to watch. “My son was younger than Julio so he would play on the field next to his,” said Carlos Rubio, a local businessman who owns a Dodgers-themed barbershop in the city. 7 because his favorite Tomateros player, Darrell Sherman, a star outfielder from Los Angeles, wore the number. He dominated the local youth league at every level - as a pitcher and a hitter. “I always told him, ‘You’re not different.’ ” “He would ask, ‘Why am I different?’ ” Juana said. For a few years, at a doctor’s urging, they convinced him to wear a patch over his right eye Monday through Friday for a month at a time to make sure he kept his left one open. His parents pleaded with him to not fight back when others cracked jokes, worried that a blow could ruin the eye. The operations would leave him with a black eye, and children quipped he must’ve been beaten. They nicknamed him “four eyes” when he wore glasses. They called him tuerto and bizco one-eyed and cross-eyed. “Thank God we didn’t have anything,” Julio said with a chuckle, “so they didn’t take anything.”Ĭhildren taunted him at school. Once, when Julio was about 9, two passengers robbed everyone on the bus at gunpoint. Eventually, they started taking eight-hour bus rides up the coast to Ciudad Obregón for the procedures. The rides were usually overnight unless they stayed with the only relative they had in Guadalajara because they couldn’t afford a hotel. “I think all of that made my son strong,” Carlos said.
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