A couple of weeks after Yoenis Cespedes led the Mets to the World Series, the slugger invited his friends and relatives to a blowout barbecue at his $1.85 million, 88-acre ranch in Vero Beach, Fla. An 800-pound cow that he owned was slaughtered for the occasion.
With his own home, his own cattle, and about to sign a $75 million contract, Cespedes was living the American dream — in more ways than you might realize.
In his homeland of Cuba, killing your own livestock without a government-issued permit carries a penalty of 18 years in jail. Freedom never tasted so good.
Is anyone enjoying life more than Yoenis Cespedes? He’s pulled up to spring-training camp this week in a different car every day. Yesterday, it was a $68,000 black and blue Polaris Slingshot sporting a four-leaf clover and the inscription “Live Lucky” on the hood.
The 30-year-old is usually blinged out in medallion necklaces — one has his number 52 — diamond earrings and designer watches. He has seven boats and a $2 million mansion besides the ranch.
It’s an embarrassment of riches for a man who grew up sharing a four-room house with eight family members in the countryside of a communist nation. His mother — who pitched 80 mph softballs for the Cuban team at the 2000 Olympics — fashioned his first bat out of a tree branch.
‘After I got [to the US], I saw the possibility that I can have whatever I want, so I worked really hard for it’
- Yoenis Cespedes
In 2011, Cespedes left his 2-year-old son behind and fled the Castro brothers’ island with his mother and five relatives. They boarded a speedboat for a 23-hour dash to the Dominican Republic.
He arrived in the US after signing a $36 million contract with the Oakland A’s in February 2012.
It would take his mother and cousins another year and half to reach American shores, and only after they endured harrowing boat rides, being stranded on a small island for three days, and for some, time in jail. (His son is still in Cuba with the boy’s mother.)
He rented a house in New Jersey last season, but Florida is his home base. And while his boats and cars seem right out of “Miami Vice,” his lifestyle is not.
He initially leased a house on a canal near the Intracoastal Waterway in Lighthouse Point, and when his relatives arrived in Florida, they moved in.
“He was really conscientious of the well-being of his family,” said Gerard Maccioli, who rented the five-bedroom home to Cespedes. The slugger, who loves to fish, would dock a boat in the back yard. His fleet includes a 54-foot Bertram yacht and several smaller fishing boats.
In June 2014, the country boy bought the sprawling ranch, not far from the Mets’ Port St. Lucie training camp.
The oak-tree-lined entrance leads to a 2,400-square-foot home sitting on one of three ponds (two of them stocked with fish). The property includes a 6,300-square-foot stable and a 2,200-square-foot barn. Cespedes outfitted one barn as a gym.
A few months after buying the ranch, he spent another $1.85 million for a home at the Bocaire Golf Club in Boca Raton. The 10,000-square-foot yellow manse has six bedrooms, 7¹/₂ bathrooms and a four-car garage with one bay for a golf cart.
It even has a hurricane/safe room with its own security system.
The home overlooks the second and third holes of the course, a perfect location for Cespedes, who loves to golf. He has said in interviews he bought the home for his mom.
He keeps some of his fancy cars at Boca and some at the ranch.
He owns at least six, including a $250,000 Alfa Romeo and a fire-spitting 2015 Lamborghini Aventador.
The car goes for $400,000, and was customized to the tune of $80,000 by Alex Vega, a friend who owns The Auto Firm in Miami.
In Cuba, Cespedes rode a bicycle.
“Being in Cuba, I never thought I was going to be here in the United States,” Cespedes told The Post. “After I got here, I saw the possibility that I can have whatever I want, so I worked really hard for it.”