Victor Pellot - Name Controversy

Name Controversy

Pellot's choice of name caused resentment and alienation, particularly in his home land of Puerto Rico. In a letter to historian Bill Haber in 1993, Pellot gave his real, full name as Victor Felipe Pellot Pove; Pove being his mother's maiden name and Pellot his father's surname (as is traditional in Hispanic culture; see Roberto Clemente Walker). However, when Maximina Pove was in the first grade, her teacher changed her last name, changing the "v" to a "w" and adding an "r" at the end.

During Pellot's first two professional seasons, in the French-Canadian town of Drummondville, Quebec, Pellot went by his birth name, Victor Pellot. However, Pellot noticed that the mostly French-speaking crowd began to laugh whenever his name was announced. Initially, Pellot surmised that the crowd was laughing because he was black. This turned out to be incorrect, and Pellot soon learned that the real source of the laughter was not his race, but his last name: the similar-sounding word plotte is slang for "vagina" in the Quebec French. In response, he played under the name of "Vic Power." He kept the name after getting promoted to the majors in United States, but retained "Pellot" when playing winter ball in Puerto Rico. The circumstances behind the user of the "Pellot" and "Power" surnames were not known to most winter league fans at the time, and Pellot was occasionally accused of "selling out" to the culture and lifestyle of the US.