A blended family of can-do Cantus

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — When the Dolphin Stadium ushers see the family coming, they call out to one another, "Here come the Cantus!" The ushers, who escort the couple to their seats behind home plate, are convinced that these fans are the Marlins' talisman this year.

The couple aren't sure which seats belong to them — they think they are Nos. 1 and 3 in Row 25 — because the stadium staff aligns them like lucky stars regardless of what their ticket stubs say.

The couple, who are expected back tonight to watch third baseman Jorge Cantu when the Marlins end their All-Star break, might chuckle if you called them Mr. and Mrs. Cantu away from the ballpark. But the mistake would be understandable.

Robert and Ellen Delson, in their 60s and retired in West Palm Beach, Fla., have been the U.S. family to Cantu for 10 years. His father and mother still live in Reynosa, Mexico, where Jorge Cantu grew up. But it was the Delsons who cared for him when he came to the United States at 16 to play minor-league baseball.

"I call her Mom. I call him Dad, and they treat me like their son," Cantu said.

Every off-season, he returns home to Mexico, where his parents, Jorge Sr. and Adriana, cattle ranchers living in a border town, eagerly await. They, too, appreciate what Cantu's second family does for him in the States.

"I feel relieved because I know Jorge is not alone," Adriana said in Spanish. "He has someone who cares for him, who loves him and will always watch over him."

Born in the U.S.A.

When Jorge Cantu came to the United States for the first time, he was in his mother's womb.

She and her husband lived just across the border from McAllen, Texas. The father of Jorge Sr. imported and exported cattle from the family's 8,600-acre ranch outside of Reynosa, so traveling into the United States was routine.

The young couple was staying in McAllen the day Adriana's labor pains began. They raced to the local hospital, where Jorge Luis Cantu was born an American citizen Jan. 30, 1982.

Jorge was raised in Reynosa, starting baseball at age 7. He idolized Cal Ripken Jr., and by the time he was 16, Jorge had become a top-notch infielder.

When scouts spotted him at a Junior Olympic tournament, it led to offers from half a dozen teams, including Boston, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay. But the Rays were the only team that agreed to the conditions set by Jorge Sr.: Should his son fail in baseball, the team would pay in full for him to attend the college of his choice.

"We never imagined the kind of future he could have in baseball," said Jorge Sr, 49.

In the summer of 1998, the Cantus packed up their young boy and sent him to New York's Hudson Valley for rookie ball.

"I always get a knot in my throat when I talk about Jorge," said Adriana, now 41. "I let him go so young."

A home away from home

Robert and Ellen Delson had accepted that they would never have children. They filled their lives in other ways.

For Ellen, life was a series of 13-hour days as personnel director of the Pespi Cola plant in Hudson Valley. Her husband had never played baseball, but watched sports in person at every opportunity.

"I thought, for my sanity, I should do the same," Ellen said.

So when the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays announced they were starting a minor league team in Hudson Valley in '94, the Delsons bought season tickets. They became two of the Renegades' biggest boosters, among the most well-known to the rookie players and management.

When Ellen heard that the cash-strapped players were living three or four to an apartment, some sleeping on the floor, she took action. She set up a program in which players, managers, coaches and even trainers could live with a host family. She hosted a pair of coaches and loved the experience, but never considered taking on a player. Too much of a hassle, she thought.

Then, days into the '98 season, one of the host parents decided that taking responsibility for a young player was too much. This one was just 16 and had to be shuttled to practices and games because he had no driver license. Oh, and he spoke only Spanish.

Ellen agreed to take him into her home, all the while thinking, "Did I bite off more than I can chew?"

After a Renegades home game, Jorge Cantu met the Delsons outside the locker room, carrying his bat and his bag. His hangdog expression was that of a player who had just been traded.

"Here he is, 16 years old, first time in the United States and he's already being put out of his first home," Ellen said, beginning to choke up.

She spoke no Spanish. Robert was only a little better off as far as the language; he was a landlord for apartments with Spanish-speaking tenants. But the Delsons managed.

Robert took Jorge to practice and, as late as 2 a.m., picked him up at the park after road games. On those 20-minute drives, Jorge and Robert would speak the language of baseball. Ellen, who woke up for work at 5 a.m., went directly to the ballpark when she left her job at 7.

Jorge spoke to his parents by phone almost daily. Ellen and Adriana laughed and cried as they tried their best to communicate, Ellen telling Jorge's mother all that her son was accomplishing.

"If it wasn't for them, I don't know what my first year in the minors would have been like," said Jorge, who became more outgoing as he learned English. "They were so happy for me."

One for Madre

Jorge soon became the star of the team, nicknamed "Can-do Cantu" for his tenacity and clutch play. Led by Cantu, the Renegades reached the Class A championship. Jorge sent for his parents, but only his father could come because Adriana was pregnant with their third child. With representatives of both of his families in the stands, Cantu hit the game-winning home run to seal the title — and bring tears to his supporters.

"Having him, it's been like filling a void," Robert Delson said.

After six seasons in the minors, Cantu reached the major leagues with Tampa Bay in 2004. That season, the Cantus were watching on television and the Delsons in the stands when Jorge played his first game at Yankee Stadium.

It had always been his dream to hit a home run there and over the Green Monster at Boston's Fenway Park, Jorge had told Robert over the dining room table years ago. And so he did, hitting a homer off New York's Roberto "El Duque" Hernandez, and, two weeks later, knocking one over the left-field wall in Boston.

The next year, for Mother's Day, he promised Ellen fireworks as a gift, and hit a three-run home run. Two days later, on Mexican Mother's Day, he promised Adriana a home run of her own, and smiled as he rounded the bases, imagining his mother cheering at home.

"That one was for you, Madre," he told the Fox Sports Network cameras in Spanish after the game.

Since he signed as a free agent with the Marlins in January, it has been easier for Cantu to see his surrogate parents. He is thriving with the Marlins, playing third base and first base and hitting .283 with 18 home runs and 54 RBI. He is on pace for his best season since 2005, when he hit .286 for Tampa Bay with 28 homers and 117 RBI.

He also has enjoyed seeing his families get closer. Jorge Sr. spent 10 days with the Delsons last month; Ellen is getting her first passport so that she and Robert can visit Jorge and his family in Reynosa in October — unless, of course, Jorge and the Marlins need them in their lucky seats for a post-season run.

"They adopted him as their own, and we feel fortunate for that," Adriana said. "If he's the son that they never had, then I'm glad I was able to give him to them."

Carlos Frias writes for The Palm Beach Post.