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Venezuelan League
From BR Bullpen
The Venezuelan League, in Spanish Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP), is a winter league based in Venezuela. The league's champion represents the nation in the Caribbean Series, which it has won seven times (1970, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1989, 2006, 2009). The league was founded in late 1945, played its first season in 1946 before moving to a fall schedule later that year. The LVBP currently has eight teams. The teams play a first league round of 63 games from October to December and the best 5 teams play a second league phase of 16 games in Round-Robin format in January. The best 2 teams from the Round-Robin then face each other in a best of 7 Final to determine the league's champion.
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[edit] History
[edit] League Founding
On December 27, 1945 the Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional was founded by Martin Tovar Lange, Don Carlos Lavaud, Juan Rafael Regetti, and Juan Antonio Yánez. The four founding teams were Cervecería Caracas, Navegantes del Magallanes, Vargas and Venezuela.
The first season began on January 12, 1946. At first, all games were played on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at Estadio Cerveza Caracas in San Agustín, Caracas during the day. After Cerveza Caracas (Caracas Brewery) provided the stadium with lighting, games were added on Tuesday nights. Vargas, managed by Daniel Canónico,won the first championship with 18 wins and 12 loses. The league's second season took place across two calendar years, which the league has continued to do since the 1946-1947 season.
The first Caribbean Series featured the league's 1948/1949 season champion, Caracas. On July 16, 1952 Cerveza Caracas sold its team to Pablo Morales and Oscar Prieto Ortiz who renamed it to the Leones del Caracas. During the same year, Estadio Universitario was built.
[edit] League Growth
The 1953/1954 season saw the replacement of two teams, Vargas and Venezuela, which had both left the LVBP due to economic difficulties. Taking their place were two teams, Gavilanes and Pastora, based in Estado Zulia in the far northwest of the country. The far-flung league would only last for a year. After the season, both Zulia-based teams were dropped. New investors bought back Venezuela and a new team Santa Maria was founded, based in La Guaira. The LVBP began its tenth season, in 1954, with four teams. However, the two Zulia teams formed their own Western league with four teams: Gavilanes, Pastora, Rapiños, and Centauros.
Once again for the 1955/1956 season the LVBP's two teams other than Caracas and Magallanes changed. Industriales de Valencia was added to the league and Pampero replaced the Santa Maria and Venezuela franchises. For the 1956/1957 season the Magallanes was renamed Oriente after Joe Novas and Joe Cruz bought the team.
The 1957/1958 season saw the introduction of a post-season series between the two Venezuelan leagues, the Liga Central based around Caracas and the Liga Occidental, based in Zulia. The winner would then be the representative of Venezuela in the Caribbean Series. Up until this season the Venezuelan representative always came from the Liga Central. The first winner of this new playoff format was Industriales which swept Rapiños in four games.
[edit] First Strike
The 1959/1960 Liga Central season was marred by a labor dispute between the Player's Association the team owners. The players had demanded the termination of the recently instituted playoffs system, because the alleging that the players on the eliminated teams were not paid during the semi-finals. The league decided to eliminate playoffs.
In mid-December, Alejandro Carrasquel, manager of Pampero, struck Eduardo Moncada, journalist and a team director. The league suspended Carrasquel for two years and the Player's Association threatened to go on strike in support of Carrasquel, whose penalty seemed overly harsh.
The dissent escallated when the players refused to participate in the All-Star game on December 24 in Maracaibo. In response, several players were suspended by the League and the rest of the season was was cancelled. Rapiños, winners of Liga Occidental, would represented Venezuela in twelth the Caribbean Series in 1960. This would be the last series featuring Cuba or Panama and would be the last series played until 1970.
[edit] League Expansion
Before the 1962/1963 season Pampero franchise became the Tiburones de La Guaira and Oriente became the Orientales in the following season after being purchased by Alfonso Carrasquel and Humberto B. Lozano. That team became the Navegantes del Magallanes once again for the 1964/1965.
The LVBP expanded by two teams for the 1965/1966 season, the Cardenales de Lara based in Barquisimeto and the Tigres de Aragua based in Maracay. Valencia moved outside of Caracas in the same year, three years later the team moved to Acarigua, Portuguesa becoming the Llaneros de Acarigua. The Llaneros lasted one year before being bought by Luis Rodolfo Machado, who had owned the Centauros. They became the Águilas del Zulia and moved to Maracaibo. During the same season (1969/1970), the Navegantes moved Valencia after being bought by a local ownership group. The newly moved team won the league's championship, and represented Venezuela in the reformed Caribbean Series, and become the first Caribbean champion in ten years.
[edit] Recent Years
The 1973/1974 season was cancelled due to a player's strike.
Before the 1975/1976 season the two Caracas-based teams could not reach an agreement to play in the Central University of Venezuela's Estadio Universitario. The Leones del Caracas and Tiburones de La Guaira merged their rosters to form the Llaneros de Portuguesa, nicknamed the Tibuleones. The teams unmerged after the season when they returned to the capital.
In 1991, the LVBP expanded to eight teams with the addition of the Caribes de Oriente and Petroleros de Cabimas. The league also split into two four-team divisions, Oriental (East) and Occidental (West). The top teams from both divisions would play in the semifinals and then the finals to determine the league's champion. The divisional set up was:
| Oriental | Occidental |
|---|---|
| Leones del Caracas | Tigres de Aragua |
| Tiburones de La Guaira | Petroleros de Cabimas |
| Navegantes del Magallanes | Cardenales de Lara |
| Caribes de Oriente | Águilas del Zulia |
The Caribes would change their name to the Caribes de Anzoátegui before the start of the 2005/2006 season. The Petroleros changed their name prior to the 1995/1996 season to the Pastora de Occidente and again before the 2001/2002 to Pastora de los Llanos, then they moved to Margarita Island in 2007/2008 changing their name to Bravos de Margarita. This last move, also marked the supression of the 2 divisions and now all the teams play the same amount of games against each other in the regular season, with the top 5 clubs advancing to the Round-Robin.
[edit] Current Teams
[edit] League Champions
[edit] Championships by Team
- Leones del Caracas: 17 (1952/1953, 1956/1957, 1961/1962, 1963/1964, 1966/1967, 1967/1968, 1972/1973, 1977/1978, 1979/1980, 1980/1981, 1981/1982, 1986/1987, 1987/1988, 1989/1990, 1994/1995, 2005/2006, 2009/2010)
- Navegantes del Magallanes: 11 (1949/1950, 1950/1951, 1954/1955, 1969/1970, 1976/1977, 1978/1979, 1993/1994, 1995/1996, 1996/1997, 2001/2002, 2012/2013)
- Tigres de Aragua: 9 (1971/1972, 1974/1975, 1975/1976, 2003/2004, 2004/2005, 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009, 2011/2012)
- Tiburones de La Guaira: 7 (1964/1965, 1965/1966, 1968/1969, 1970/1971, 1982/1983, 1984/1985, 1985/1986)
- Águilas del Zulia: 5 (1983/1984, 1988/1989, 1991/1992, 1992/1993, 1999/2000)
- Industriales de Valencia: 5 (1955/1956, 1957/1958, 1958/1959, 1960/1961, 1962/1963)
- Cardenales de Lara: 4 (1990/1991, 1997/1998, 1998/1999, 2000/2001)
- Cervecería Caracas: 3 (1947/1948, 1948/1949, 1951/1952)
- Equipo Vargas: 2 (1946, 1946/1947)
- Pastora de Occidente: 1 (1953/1954)
- Caribes de Anzoátegui: 1 (2010/2011)
[edit] Seasonal Champions
| Team won the Serie del Caribe |
[edit] Award Winners
[edit] MVP
- 1985-1986 Andrés Galarraga, Caracas
- 1986-1987 Cecil Fielder, Lara
- 1987-1988 Luis Salazar, La Guaira
- 1988-1989 Phil Stephenson, Zulia
- 1989-1990 Luis Sojo, Lara
- 1990-1991 Greg Briley, Caracas
- 1991-1992 Chad Curtis, La Guaira
- 1992-1993 Willie Cañate, Lara
- 1993-1994 Luis Sojo, Lara
- 1994-1995 Eduardo Pérez, Aragua
- 1995-1996 Robert Pérez, Lara
- 1996-1997 Magglio Ordóñez, Anzoátegui
- 1997-1998 Alex Cabrera, Occidente
- 1998-1999 Luis Raven, Occidente
- 1999-2000 Roberto Zambrano, Aragua
- 2000-2001 Chris Jones, La Guaira
- 2001-2002 Roberto Zambrano, Aragua
- 2003-2004 Luis Landaeta, Llanos
- 2004-2005 Javier Colina, Llanos
- 2005-2006 Tom Evans, Lara
- 2006-2007 Robert Pérez, Lara
- 2007-2008 Eliezer Alfonzo, Anzoátegui
- 2008-2009 Jesus Guzman, Caracas
- 2009-2010 Ernesto Mejia, Zulia
- 2010-2011 Josh Kroeger, Caracas
- 2011-2012 Gregor Blanco, La Guaira
- 2012-2013 Ernesto Mejia, Zulia
[edit] Pitcher of the Year
- 1985-1986 Ubaldo Heredia, Caracas
- 1986-1987 Dennis Powell, Caracas
- 1987-1988 Oswaldo Peraza, Lara
- 1988-1989 Julio Strauss, Caracas
- 1989-1990 Jim Neidlinger, Caracas
- 1990-1991 Joe Ausanio, Aragua
- 1991-1992 Wilson Álvarez, Zulia
- 1992-1993 Tony Castillo, Lara
- 1993-1994 Carlos Pulido, Magallanes
- 1994-1995 Rich Garces, Aragua
- 1995-1996 Omar Daal, Caracas
- 1996-1997 Omar Daal, Caracas
- 1997-1998 Beiker Graterol, Lara
- 1998-1999 Mike Romano, Lara
- 1999-2000 Keith Evans, Occidente
- 2000-2001 Edwin Hurtado, Lara
- 2001-2002 Jeff Farnsworth, Lara
- 2003-2004 Edwin Hurtado, Lara
- 2004-2005 Ricardo Palma, Los Llanos
- 2005-2006 Willie Eyre, Aragua
- 2006-2007 Horacio Estrada, Aragua
- 2007-2008 Alex Herrera, Anzoátegui
- 2008-2009 David Austen, Zulia
- 2009-2010 Jean Machi, Magallanes
- 2010-2011 Andrew Baldwin, Anzoátegui
- 2011-2012 Renyel Pinto, Anzoátegui
- 2012-2013 Dwayne Pollok, Zulia
[edit] Manager of the Year
- 2003-2004 Luis Dorante, Llanos
- 2004-2005 Luis Dorante, Llanos
- 2005-2006 Al Pedrique, Magallanes
- 2006-2007 Buddy Bailey, Aragua
- 2007-2008 Marco Antonio Davalillo, Anzoategui
- 2008-2009 Frank Kremblas, Caracas
- 2009-2010 Carlos Garcia, Magallanes
- 2010-2011 Jody Davis, Zulia
- 2011-2012 Marco Davalillo, La Guaira
- 2012-2013 Al Pedrique, Anzoategui
[edit] Famous Players/Managers
- Bobby Abreu
- Teolindo Acosta
- Edgardo Alfonzo
- Eliezer Alfonzo
- Felipe Alou
- Luís Aparicio
- José Bracho
- Miguel Cabrera
- Rod Carew
- Alejandro Carrasquel
- Alfonso Carrasquel
- José Casanova
- David Concepción
- Omar Daal
- Víctor Davalillo
- Baudilio Díaz
- Martín Dihigo
- Andrés Galarraga
- Carlos García
- Luis García
- Adrian Garrett
- Ozzie Guillén
- Enzo Hernández
- Edwin Hurtado
- Luis Leal
- Vidal López
- Gonzalo Márquez
- Oswaldo Olivares
- Magglio Ordoñez
- Dave Parker
- Robert Pérez
- Pete Rose
- Luis Salazar
- Pablo Sandoval
- Diego Seguí
- Luis Sojo
- César Tovar
- Manny Trillo
- Omar Vizquel
- Roberto Zambrano
[edit] See Also
[edit] Sources
- Historia de la Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (in Spanish)
- Historial de Campeones (in Spanish)
- Venezuela Años 60 (in Spanish)
- Breve Reseña Histórica (in Spanish)
- Historia del Beisbol Profesional en Venezuela (in Spanish)
- Equipos del Béisbol de Venezuela (in Spanish)
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