By IAN WILSON
The Candyman can.
He proved that in San Francisco and in Cleveland and in Toronto, too.
But before Candido Maldonado brought his can-do attitude to those Major League Baseball (MLB) markets, he established a name for himself in Lethbridge, Alberta.
The undrafted free agent – a native of Humacoa, Puerto Rico – signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1978 and was sent to the rookie-level Pioneer Baseball League for the summer.
Just 17 years old at the time, Maldonado showed he could play right away and became one of the better hitters on the circuit.
The eight-team league was rich in talent that season. Future major leaguers Gary Redus, Skeeter Barnes, Nick Esasky, Tom Lawless, Ben Hayes and Les Straker played for the Billings Mustangs, while the Helena Phillies boasted the likes of George Bell, Ryne Sandberg, Carmelo Castillo, Bob Dernier, Ed Hearn and Alejandro Sanchez on their roster.
Tom Brunansky roamed the outfield for the Idaho Falls Angels and Julio Franco picked balls out of the infield dirt as the shortstop for the Butte Copper Kings. Rob Deer and John Rabb paced the offence of the Great Falls Giants.
In Alberta, Lloyd Moseby was tracking down fly balls while his Medicine Hat Blue Jay teammate Geno Petralli was learning the ropes as a catcher and a third baseman.
The Calgary Cardinals were the only Pioneer League squad not to send a player to an MLB team, but Maldonado was surrounded by an abundance of baseball talent. Dann Bilardello served as the backstop for Lethbridge and the infield included Steve and Dave Sax, as well as German Rivera. Maldonado’s outfield mates were Mitch Webster and Mike Marshall.
Guiding this stacked Dodgers team was rookie skipper Jim Lefebvre, who would himself go on to coach and manage in the majors.
“This is an exciting team to watch and an exciting team to manage,” Lefebvre said of the 1978 Lethbridge Dodgers.
SOAK IT IN THE SUN
Maldonado thrived in the southern Alberta city, where he hit consistently, with power, and in key moments while maintaining centre field duties at Henderson Stadium.
During a mid-August doubleheader against Billings at home, Maldonado connected for three long balls, including a three-run, walk-off bash.
“I had it in mind to win the game. I just wanted to make contact. The manager just told me to think ‘hit,'” Maldonado told Lethbridge Herald sports writer Dave Sulz after the two-game set.
“I have to give thanks to Jim Lefebvre because he helped me a lot. I had some problems with hitting and he has done a lot to help me … this was the result.”
A week later, Maldonado and the Dodgers received a visit from baseball royalty when Hall-of-Fame pitcher Bob Feller came to Lethbridge.
Feller was then employed by Hilton Hotels and stopped by Henderson Stadium to help promote baseball. In between two games of a doubleheader against Idaho Falls, Feller pitched to local sports personalities, including Lefebvre.
“Bullet Bob” – who was an eight-time All-Star, a seven-time MLB strikeout leader, a pitcher of three no-hitters and a World Series champ in 1948 – called baseball “the greatest buy for the dollar in the world … it involves good, wholesome fresh air and entertainment.”
Close to 700 fans showed up for the twin bill, which saw the Dodgers win the opener 4-1 before dropping the second contest by a 7-2 score. For his part, Maldonado picked up a pair of hits, as well as an RBI, and he was caught stealing.
As the season entered the home stretch, Maldonado continued to excel. On Aug. 24th, during a game in Butte, Montana, the outfielder hit for the cycle and led the Dodgers to a 22-8 thumping of the Copper Kings. Batting third, Maldonado went 4-for-5 with four runs and four RBI in the game.
A few days later in Idaho Falls, he went 3-for-4 with a homer, a double, three runs and four RBI to pace Lethbridge to a 10-2 win over the Angels. Maldonado – who also made a spectacular catch in deep right centre field – did most of the damage against starting pitcher Steve Brown, who would go on to play for the Edmonton Trappers and California Angels in 1983 and 1984.
When the PBL campaign came to a close for the Dodgers, Maldonado finished with a .290 batting average, a .581 slugging percentage, 15 doubles, 12 homers, five triples, 45 runs and 48 RBI over 57 games in his first pro season. He ended up tied for fourth in the Pioneer League in homers with teammate Mike Marshall, and third in slugging percentage. His 122 total bases were the eighth most on the circuit.
YEAR IN REVIEW
Reflecting on the season, which saw Lethbridge finish two games under .500 and outside of the playoff picture, Lefebvre pointed to a number of positives and saw a bright future for several of his players.
“I consider it a very successful season for the reason that the primary objective in the rookie league is to produce ball players for major league teams. I think in five years, some of the players on this club will be playing in the major leagues,” he told Sulz.
“Unfortunately, fans have a tendency to base success on wins and losses. If this were the major leagues, I would agree that maybe that should be the case. But as far as the rookie league is concerned, the main thing is how we develop ball players and how many we develop. In that sense, we had an outstanding year.”
Added Lefebvre: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we have more talent, more prospects on this ball club than any club in the league. And that’s not my opinion, but also the opinion of the managers and coaches we have played against.”
Lefebvre’s assessment proved to be prescient. Lethbridge produced seven major leaguers from their 1978 squad, which was tied with Helena for pumping out MLB alumni. That number jumps to nine if you include Lefebvre – who was a first base coach and a hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers shortly after he left Lethbridge – and Ron Perranoski, the pitching coach of the L.A. Dodgers from 1981 through 1994.
In his year-end interview with the Herald, the skipper also liked what he saw out of Maldonado.
“The development of Candy Maldonado from the day he arrived to what he is doing now is another outstanding improvement. He had a lot of things he had to work on. He had a lot of mechanical things wrong with him, but he worked hard and made a lot of improvement,” said Lefebvre.
He also had great things to say about Lethbridge.
“I would like to thank the city of Lethbridge for everything they did for us this year. Some of the boys had never been away from home before, and for their first time away from home, I couldn’t think of a finer environment to be in than here in Lethbridge,” said Lefebvre.
“I feel very grateful to have spent my first year as a manager in baseball in Lethbridge, and I will remember the people here long after I’ve left.”
BACK TO ‘BERTA
While Lefebvre moved on from Wild Rose Country, Maldonado returned for another season in the PBL with the Dodgers.
He played 59 games in Lethbridge in 1979 and another 50 for the Single-A Clinton Dodgers in the Midwest League. Maldonado led the Pioneer League in doubles, with 20, while boosting his batting average to .299 and scoring 42 runs. He also helped the Lethbridge Dodgers, under manager Gail Henley, win the league championship.
Maldonado climbed the ranks quickly after that and was playing in Triple-A with the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) by 1981, the same year he made his MLB debut with the Dodgers.
His time with the Dukes – Maldonado played 302 games for Albuquerque in the early 1980s – brought him back to Alberta for matchups against the Edmonton Trappers.
He also continued to develop into a lethal hitter at Triple-A, but his game didn’t translate with the Dodgers.
It took a move to the San Francisco for Maldonado to become the same kind of batter he was in the minors. He played four seasons with the Giants in the late 1980s and pounded out 59 round trippers, 105 doubles and 279 RBI for San Fran in 522 games played.
After he was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays, Maldonado also captured baseball’s greatest prize: a World Series championship ring.
The Candyman was a major part of Toronto’s postseason run in 1992. He clubbed two homers and produced six RBI during the American League Championship Series (ALCS) against the Oakland Athletics.
In the World Series against the Atlanta Braves, Maldonado followed that up by delivering a Game 3 walk-off win and a solo homer in Game 6.
Maldonado finished his MLB playing career in 1995 with a .254 batting average, 146 home runs and 618 RBI in 1,410 games.
He has since been inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame and the Puerto Rico Baseball Hall of Fame.
