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Juan Pedro ''J. P." Villaman Boston Spanish broadcaster
Boston.com
By Maria Cramer and Heather Allen, Globe Staff And Globe Correspondent
For thousands and thousands of Spanish-speaking members of Red Sox Nation, Juan Pedro ''J. P." Villaman was the voice, the man who screamed until he was hoarse and laughed easily as he told fans about David Ortiz's mammoth home runs, Manny Ramirez's adventures in left field, and the team's miraculous comebacks.
Villaman, the Spanish-language play-by-play radio announcer for Red Sox games, died early yesterday when his Ford Explorer sideswiped a truck on Interstate 93 near Wilmington, rolled down an embankment, and slammed into a tree. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said he appeared to be speeding when he lost control of his sport utility vehicle. The driver of the truck was not injured, and no charges have been filed.
Villaman, 46, was on his way home about 3:40 a.m. to Lawrence after broadcasting from Yankee Stadium over the weekend. On Sunday, Mother's Day in his native Dominican Republic, he had called the 88-year-old aunt who raised him and told her he loved her. ''He didn't know he was saying goodbye," said his cousin, Susie Villaman of Lawrence.
Villaman started broadcasting Red Sox games in Spanish in 1995 and was one of the first Spanish-speaking announcers in Major League Baseball. His broadcasts could be heard on a regional network of radio stations; by satellite in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and elsewhere; and on cable broadcasts. Listeners called him ''Papa Oso" (Papa Bear).
He was particularly close to Latin players on the Sox and received a World Series ring that he proudly displayed.
He was an unabashed fan of the Red Sox, so enamored with the team that he would hug, even kiss, players before interviewing them. In Game 4 of the World Series last year, he got so excited when pitcher Keith Foulke threw the ball to first, sealing the Red Sox's 86-year curse-ending victory, his voice cracked during the broadcast.
''Boston gana!" (''Boston wins!") he screamed into the microphone seven times, so loudly his voice became raspy.
His adoration was practically unprofessional, but Villaman did not care, said Uri Berenguer, his co-host for the last four years on WROL-AM, home of the Spanish Beisbol Network.
''He loved the Red Sox so much. J. P. saw the Red Sox as the almighty," Berenguer said. ''In J. P.'s eyes, the Red Sox could do nothing wrong."
The death shook the Red Sox organization, which was still reeling from the death earlier this month of clubhouse cook Bernie Logue, who fell from the sixth floor of a parking deck after attending a Boston Celtics playoff game with some Sox players.
Ortiz, the team's designated hitter and postseason hero, stood in front of his locker in the Red Sox clubhouse yesterday and recalled the last time he saw Villaman, a fellow Dominican. The broadcaster came into the clubhouse on Saturday before the game against the Yankees and began joking around with some of the players.
''Manny [Ramirez] and [assistant coach Ino] Guerrero were sitting there and he said, 'I love you guys,' " Ortiz said. ''We were making fun of him, laughing, making jokes, and he loved us.
1-800-BEISBOL Mayo 31, 2005 06:30 PM
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