Few players in Corinthians history were as beloved as Baltazar. Today the club celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the idol, who was baptized Oswaldo, adopted his brother’s name and became known as Cabecinha de Ouro.
“I was never very good with my feet”, he lied, embracing the caricature that painted him as a severely limited player. “But no one, not even Pelé, was better than me with the head.”
Baltazar was Pelé’s own idol, who reported on several occasions that he had scored “Baltazar’s goal” on his football team. The center forward scored 269 goals in 404 matches in black and white, and more than 70 of those goals were proven to be headed.
The high skill became a marchinha, a song composed by Alfredo Borba that gained popularity in the voice of Elza Laranjeira: “Baltazar’s goal! Baltazar’s goal! Cabecinha jumps, 1-0 on the scoreboard!”.
Baltazar’s goals were decisive in the most successful period in Corinthians’ history. From 1950 to 1955, the team won everything possible, with three titles in the Campeonato Paulista, three in the Rio-São Paulo Tournament (the Roberto Gomes Pedrosa) and the Little World Cup, with two victories over Barcelona and two over Roma.
That team had some of the great black and white idols, such as Idário, Roberto Belangero, Cláudio and Luizinho. But, even with his serious and silent manner – some say he hated the march “Gol de Baltazar” –, it was Baltazar who won the competition O Que Mais Querido do Brasil.
The prize was a brand new Studebaker, which came in handy. Passionate about cars, the center forward had lost his Cadillac, which caught fire when he was returning from São Lourenço, in Minas Gerais, where he was in a period of concentration for the Brazilian team, in 1953.
Legend has it that the player, in one of his cars, was caught going the wrong way on São Caetano Street, in the central region of São Paulo. The traffic cop was incredulous: “Is that Cabecinha? Is that really you, Cabecinha?” Instead of fining him, he took his autograph from the ticket book itself.
Its popularity was such that it was portrayed in a program by comedian Silvino Neto, on Rádio Nacional. He imitated Adhemar de Barros, interventionist, governor and great political figure in São Paulo from the 30s to the 60s.
“Who is the greatest politician in Brazil?” asked Silvino, emulating Adhemar’s nasal voice. “Who is the greatest leader in Brazil?” he asked. The crowd’s response, in chorus, was: “A-dhe-mar! A-dhe-mar!”. When, however, the question was about “the biggest head in Brazil”, the crowd exploded with another answer: “Bal-ta-zar! Bal-ta-zar!”.
This was not, in the official record, the name of the scorer. Born Oswaldo Silva, on January 14, 1926, in Santos, he played for the Flor da Noite team since he was a child, alongside his brother, Baltazar. Parents even banned boys from playing. Only Oswaldo disobeyed the order and announced that he would play for himself and Baltazar.
The nickname stuck, and it was as Baltazar that Oswaldo tried his luck in football. He played for Juvenil Guarany and Flamengo, both from Santos, and even wore the shirt of União Monte Alegre, from Piracicaba, before truly starting his career, as a professional, at Jabaquara, from Santos.
He stood out and arrived at Corinthians in 1945, for 200 thousand cruises plus income from two friendlies. But it took time for him to become “the most beloved star in Brazil”. The black and white team had been starving for titles since 1941, and the signing of the boy from the Santos neighborhood of Macuco did not immediately change the situation.
Baltazar had always played as a right midfielder, and it was in this position that he arrived at Parque São Jorge – the center forward was Servílio, the Dancer, another black and white historical idol. The young man from Santos was criticized and played poorly, until doctor Sérgio Blumer Bastos diagnosed him with malnutrition and prescribed him high doses of calcium.
Calcium helped, but it also helped the young people incorporated into the main squad. Cabeção, Idário, Roberto Belangero and Luizinho joined Baltazar and Cláudio – this right-winger, also born in Santos, to this day the greatest scorer in the history of Corinthians –, and the black-and-white went from fasting to a frenetic sequence of titles.
With the team stronger, the partnership between Cláudio and Baltazar flourished, who, with the departure of Servílio, became a center forward. If Baltazar is Cabecinha de Ouro, he is Cabecinha de Ouro because of Cláudio’s crosses.
“I already knew where he liked to take the shot: on the left, behind the central goal. I would center it, he would jump and greet, hit it. In the corner, Baltazar would leave the penalty area. When it was arriving, towards the penalty mark, he was coming with it. With open arms, he would head the ball. He rarely missed”, said Cláudio, in a statement for the book “Coração Corinthiano” (1992), by Lourenço Diaferia.
“Baixinho did half the work. Good in the center, with free kicks, with the ball running, with the dead ball”, acknowledged Baltazar. “I had the happiness of playing with the most perfect player I saw. It was Cláudio.”
Baltazar was called up for the 1950 World Cup – Cláudio was not, an error that coach Flávio Costa was never able to justify. He was also decisive in the team’s qualification for the 1954 World Cup, with five goals in the four qualifying games.
The Corinthian started both World Cups as a starter and then lost his position, even though he scored goals. He did not understand the decisions and even said that he would never play for the yellow team again – he was the scorer of Brazil’s first two goals with the yellow shirt, in 1954, a 2-0 victory over Chile, in Santiago.
His national team was Corinthians, a club where he was also coach of the youth teams and the professional team, in the first Brazilian Championship, in 1971. He later worked as a prison guard and coach of the Carandiru penitentiary team, in São Paulo. And he was an instructor at Ceret (Centro Esportivo Recreativo Educativo do Trabalhador), in the east zone of São Paulo, shortly before he died, in 1997, at the age of 71, with blood circulation problems.
“Is that Cabecinha?”, a black and white fan would ask at Ceret, from time to time, as did the traffic policeman on Rua São Caetano. To which he replied: “Yes. I love Corinthians with all my strength.”
