#SLBenfica 36 yrs ago Vitor Baptista " The George Best of #Portuguese #Soccer " O Menino do Brinco - The game was stopped to looked for the earring Vitor Baptista

During a Lisbon Derby against Sporting Clube de Portugal, Baptista lost his left earring minutes after scoring. He started looking for the missing object after realizing it was missing, in a scene that lasted almost five minutes; he refused to celebrate the final win, claiming he had "lost money" that day – the players each received 8.000 escudos for the two points, the piece was valued at 12.000.^[3] He subsequently added the moniker O Rapaz do Brinco (The Earring Boy) to the already existing O Maior(The Greatest), Gargantas (Loudmouth), O Rapaz dos Pés de Ouro (The Boy with the Golden Feet) and Meu Deus (My God).

Baptista struggled heavily with alcoholism and drug abuse still as an active player. In his last seasons, spent in the regional leagues, he resorted to stealing to support his habit, dying on New Year's Day 1999 at the age of only 50.^[4]

 Vítor Manuel Ferreira Baptista (18 October 1948 – 1 January 1999) was a Portuguese footballer. Mainly a second striker, he could also operate as an attacking midfielder. During a 15-year professional career, which was marred by several problems of indiscipline,[1] he played mostly for Vitória de Setúbal (two spells) and Benfica, gaining international recognition with the latter, for which he amassed official totals

Full name	Vítor Manuel Ferreira Baptista
Date of birth	18 October 1948
Place of birth	Setúbal, Portugal
Date of death	1 January 1999 (aged 50)
Place of death	Setúbal, Portugal
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Striker / Midfielder
Youth career
1962–1967	Vitória Setúbal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1967–1971	Vitória Setúbal	76	(33)
1971–1978	Benfica	111	(51)
1978–1979	Vitória Setúbal	19	(7)
1979–1980	Boavista	15	(8)
1980	San Jose Earthquakes	1	(0)
1980–1981	Amora	4	(0)
1981–1982	Montijo (player-coach)	2	(0)
1982–1983	União Tomar
1983–1984	Monte Caparica
1984–1986	Estrelas Faralhão
National team
1971–1976	Portugal	11	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals

 of 150 games and 62 goals (128/52 for Setúbal).