Pascual Perez RIP - killed in a town of pollution and suffering

     Pascual Perez has been hacked to death in a robbery at his home in Bajos de Haina, Domincan Republic.
   It is said that Perez recently received a big payment from his MLB pension, which might have inspired the thieves.
   Perez was a delightful pitcher, tall and slim and extremely entertaining, sometimes even tossing a moon ball, which hitters could rarely hit.  
  Fans also got a kick out of Pascual's habit of checking opposition runners on first base by leaning forward and peering between his long skinny legs.
   He went 28-21 from 87-89 for the Expos. Perhaps his best moments were in 1987 when he went 7-0 for the team after sitting out the previous season following being cast off by the Atlanta Braves, who found him a bit too flakey and perhaps a bit too fond of cocaine, something he was nailed for in his home DR early in his career.
  Perez said he first became addicted to cocaine in 1984 after Atlanta Manager Joe Torre took away his passport for fear of visa problems if he returned to the Dominican Republic. Perez's wife went back home and he consoled his loneliness through cocaine.
   He grew up in a tiny house in the town with five brothers and three sisters. When he made his first paycheque he bought his parents a big house. He married Marisela and had two daughters, Roxann and Mariel, at least as of 1988, he likely fathered more afterwards.
   He started his career in the Pittsburgh organization but they kept him glued to the bench until he was traded to the Braves and when he was called up he famously couldn't find the stadium, circling it on the I-285 until he ran out of gas.
   In 1983 he was sent to prison in the Dominican Republic for three months on a drug charge, which he claims was trumped up.
   When Murray Cook signed him to the Expos he found himself playing in the minors until Floyd Youmans went on the IR list, leading to his call-up at age 30.
   He credited his refound success on his ability to overcome his fear of pitching inside, something he had been scared to do since hitting San Diego's Alan Wiggins, thus earning the ire of many other teams.
   Perez went into drug rehabilitation for his cocaine addiction in Feb. 1989. He last pitched in the majors in 1991 and failed a drug test while trying out for the Yankees in the Spring of 1992. He failed to catch on when attempting to make the Expos staff in 1996 at the end of his career.
   His brother Carlos Perez pitched briefly for the Expos as well. And another brother and a cousin also pitched in the majors.
   The town he was killed in was also the birthplace of Felipe Alou. It sits about a half hour west of Santo Domingo, which in most places would make it a desirable suburb west of the downtown core.
   However the area was also the site of a decommissioned battery factory that left so much lead in the soil that it has been listed as one of the top 10 most polluted places on the planet.
   Virtually every child in the area has triple the amount of lead deemed dangerous by the World Health Organization and they are also beset by exposure to other types of dangerous metals as well.
   The child population of the areas has been marked by reduced IQ, slowed body growth, serious hearing problems, serious behavioral or attention problems, poor school performance, and kidney damage, asthma, bronchitis, colds, acute diarrheal infections, irreversible deterioration of the respiratory system, different types of cancer, adverse effects on development and damage to vital organs.
   Exposure to lead, even by touching with the hands, leads to small drops in intelligence. The Roman Empire fell after residents started drinking wine from lead goblets. 
   Murder is common in the Dominican Republic, a country where you frequently see men carrying holstered guns.
   Between January and July 2010, for example, 43 taxi drivers were murdered in Santo Domingo, to put that into perspective, in six months, the city racked up as many taxi driver murders as the province of Quebec has seen over the last century.
   So Pascual Perez was not forgotten, in fact I chatted about him twice recently with my friend Howard at Cunningham's Pub.
   Let us remember Pascual Perez not only by grieving, but by trying to help the kids in the area that are afflicted by dangerous environmental hazards.