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44-450: Baseball is Venezuela's leading sport. Baseball in Venezuela originates with the early twentieth century cultural influence of United States oil companies, introduced in the country at the end of the 1910s and at the beginning of the 1920s by American immigrants and workers from the exploding oil industry in the country. Baseball's definitive explosion in Venezuela was in 1941, the year of

88-559: A round robin format where a total of 63 games are disputed by each of the eight teams that made up the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, meaning that each team faces every other team a total of 9 times, 5 times as home club and 4 times as away team; the number of games as home club between any 2 clubs alternates year by year. At the end of the regular season, the teams are ranked from first place to last in their division depending on their win–loss record, and

132-433: A playoff game, allowing Venezuela's squad an extra few days rest for their ace Canonico. In the tie-breaking championship game on October 22, Canonico went up against Marrero. Venezuela quickly scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, and Marrero was relieved by "Natilla" Jiménez . Canonico pitched a scoreless game until the top of the ninth, but the late Cuban rally was not enough to prevent Venezuela from winning

176-434: A result of this exploitation, many opt to attend baseball academies rather than school, which leaves them without education. These academies are often very low quality, with their main purpose being to hide players that are too young to officially sign from other teams that are scouting talent in the same area. Players are led on by these teams by being promised free visas, even though they do not have enough to fulfill all of

220-577: A sixth team qualified for the semifinals, and the change of the semifinal from a round robin format to two phases of play-offs to the best of 7 games. In recent years, Tigres de Aragua has become the most dominant team of the league, winning the crown seven times in the last fifteen years, including three times in a row from the 2006-07 season to the 2008-09 season and also winning the Caribbean Series in 2009 . On August 22, 2019, Major League Baseball banned its affiliated players from playing in

264-583: A wildcard team in the semifinals: the best placed third-place from the two divisions would accompany the other four teams in a round-robin semifinal. For the 2007–08 season, with the move of the Pastora team from the western city of Acarigua to the eastern city of Porlamar , the Western Division and the Eastern Division were merged into a single division of eight teams, with the top five teams advancing to

308-614: Is a secondary Venezuelan winter league, with the teams acting as farm teams for VPBL clubs. In 2021, the Venezuelan Major League, a summer league circuit, was launched. Venezuelan teams have won the Caribbean Series a number of times. The Venezuela national baseball team won the Baseball World Cup several times in the 1940s, and the baseball tournament at the Pan American Games in 1959. The team finished 7th in

352-636: The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York . The award is given annually to honor the Venezuelan player who recorded the best individual performance in Major League Baseball , as voted on by sports journalists in Venezuela. Six MLB teams maintained training academies in Venezuela in 2010, down from 21 in 2002. Possible reasons for the decline include strained relations between

396-520: The Washington Senators in the early 1950s. The ace of the staff was Conrado Marrero , who went 3-0 during round-robin play with a very effective 0.46 ERA, though he would suffer the loss in the playoff game. Cuba's batters included Bernardo Cuervo, who hit .400 and led the tournament with 10 runs batted in ; Andrés Fleitas (.378), the brother of Senators shortstop Ángel Fleitas ; Napoleón Reyes , hitting .343; Clemente González (.395), whop had

440-622: The inaugural World Baseball Classic and 3rd in the 2009 event , but has dropped to 10th in the 2013 event . Over 350 Venezuelans have played in Major League Baseball since 1939, with 59 Venezuelans playing in MLB as of Opening Day 2014, the second most from any country (after the Dominican Republic ). The Luis Aparicio Award was established in 2004, in honor of Luis Aparicio , the only Venezuelan ballplayer to have been inducted into

484-649: The world championship in Havana . By then, the appearance of professional baseball in Venezuela attracted many ball players from the Caribbean and the United States to the country, showing a more integrated sport there than it was in the United States. This is evidenced in the hiring of stellar players like Ramón Bragaña , Martín Dihigo , Oscar Estrada , Cocaína García , Bertrum Hunter , Roy Campanella , Sam Jethroe , Satchel Paige , and Roy Welmaker . On December 27, 1945,

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528-499: The 1969-1970 tournament. In 1969, Las Águilas del Zulia (Zulia Eagles) joined the VPBL to replace Industriales de Valencia . The 1970s saw the first successes for Venezuelan teams outside of Venezuela since the amateur championships of the 1940s, with the Navegantes del Magallanes winning two Caribbean Series . It also saw problems for the league, in the form of the strike that prevented

572-489: The 1973-1974 tournament, and the problems the Leones del Caracas and Tiburones de La Guaira had in 1975–1976 to secure a baseball park to play their home games. This resulted in both teams merged into one, and forced to move to the city of Acarigua. Also in the 1970s, Tigres de Aragua won the first championships for the 1960s expansion teams. The 1980s saw the Leones del Caracas winning five tournaments, consolidating their lead as

616-606: The Baseball World Cup in Havana when the national team beat Cuba in the finals. This team was consecrated by the press and the fans as "Los Héroes del '41" (The Heroes of '41). Since that year, baseball has transformed into the nation's most popular sport, a status it enjoys till today. Buoyed by this success, the sport took on a life on its own, and in 1945, the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (VPBL)

660-713: The Caribbean Series eight times, most recently in 2024 by the Tiburones de La Guaira , after having won the LVBP title during the 2023–24 season. 1941 Amateur World Series The 1941 Amateur World Series was the fourth edition of the Amateur World Series (AWS), an international men's amateur baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation . The tournament took place, for

704-400: The Eastern Division (División Oriental) with the teams Caracas, Magallanes, La Guaira and Oriente; and the Western Division (División Occidental) with the teams Zulia, Lara, Aragua and Cabimas. The first two teams from each division by the end of the regular season of the tournament would qualify to the round-robin semifinals. The format would change again some years later, with the addition of

748-554: The Future", and even a Venezuela's League Stars vs. Dominican Republic's League Stars inter-league all star game during the 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 tournaments. The league houses eight teams in two divisions, the Occidental (Western) and the Central divisions. The tournament is divided into a regular season and a postseason consisting of a semi-final and final round. The regular season follows

792-480: The Netherlands were added for the 1970 edition . The Cuban national team, which had won the last two tournament, was anchored by a strong pitching staff that was the best of the amateur circuit. Several of these players would go on to professional careers with Major League Baseball , including Rogelio Martínez (who went 2-0 in the tournament with a 0.00 ERA) and Julio Moreno (1-1, 1.29 ERA), who both played with

836-509: The Santa Marta BBC was moved out of Caracas, and renamed to Industriales de Valencia (Valencia Industrymen). The 1956-1957 tournament would see further changes: the Navegantes del Magallanes team was purchased by advertisers Joe Novas and Joe Cruz and renamed as Oriente, leaving the league made of Leones del Caracas, Oriente, Pampero and Industriales de Valencia. In 1962, Los Tiburones de La Guaira (La Guaira Sharks) were brought into

880-436: The U.S. and Venezuela and the increasingly ubiquitous presence of MLB teams in the country creating more competition for talent there. In November 2011 Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped while home to play for his Venezuelan winter league team, Tigres de Aragua . Two days later he was rescued unharmed by police commandos in the mountains of Carabobo state. Eight people were arrested in connection with

924-558: The Venezuelan League to comply with President Donald Trump 's embargo on Venezuela. This ban was later limited to only Navegantes del Magallanes and Tigres de Aragua , and has since been lifted for all clubs. As of 2023, the LVBP has a limit of maximum five foreign players (known as imports) per team. The league has scheduled All Star Games most years, sometime featuring Criollos (Venezuelan) vs Importados (foreigners), Western Division vs Eastern Division or Stars vs "Stars of

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968-415: The championship team was hailed as " Los Héroes del '41 " ("Heroes of '41"). All teams participated in a single-match round-robin, resulting in eight games for each team. In case of a tie for best record at the end of the round-robin, a single playoff game would be held to determine the overall winner. The tournament saw the return of all of the new members that had been invited to the 1940 edition, with

1012-478: The departure of the teams Sabios de Vargas and Venezuela BBC due to economic problems, being replaced by two teams (Gavilanes and Pastora) from the professional league of the Zulia State , from western Venezuela. In 1954 Sabios de Vargas was replaced by Santa Marta and Patriotas de Venezuela came back both only for that year. In 1955 a new team was added in the place of the departed Venezuela, named Pampero; while

1056-601: The exception of Hawaii . Three new national teams were added: El Salvador , Panama , and the Dominican Republic . The appearance of the Panamanian and Dominican teams in particular raised the level of competition in the tournament, according to Roberto González Echevarría . With the departure of Hawaii, the Amateur World Series would consist exclusively of national teams from the Americas going forward, until Italy and

1100-459: The first 2 teams in each division qualify. In the case of a tie between qualified teams, their position on the table is determined by the following criteria: In the case of a tie between teams where a position in the postseason needs to be determined, the tie will be solved with extra games. The postseason consists of a semi-final and final round. All the series are playoff series to the best of 7 games. In all of these single elimination series,

1144-472: The first champion, with a record of 18 wins and 12 losses. During the first tournaments, games were played on Thursdays and Saturdays on the afternoons, and Sundays in the morning. This was the norm until Cervecería Caracas' park — located in the San Agustín del Norte zone of Caracas — was fitted with electric lights, enabling its use during night games. Thus, a game was added on Tuesday nights. Eventually,

1188-431: The first home run in Venezuelan professional baseball (1946) and the first in Caribbean Series history (1949), and Julio Bracho . Most of the players would go on to successful careers in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League . Another unexpectedly strong team was Mexico, piloted by Chile Gómez . Mexico's Victor Manuel Canales, who would go on to play for several years in the minor leagues, hit five doubles to lead

1232-496: The kidnapping. Out of the 50 players involved in the 2012 Major League Baseball World Series, 9 were Venezuelan. International Free Agency in Venezuela The morality of the international free agency process in nations such as Venezuela is often questioned due to various reasons. Money-hungry agents prey on naive and underprivileged latino baseball players in attempts to pocket as much of their signing bonuses as possible. As

1276-544: The league expanded from six to eight teams, with the addition of the Caribes de Oriente (Eastern Caribbeans), who are now the Caribes de Anzoátegui (Anzoátegui Caribbeans); and the Petroleros de Cabimas (Cabimas Oilers), who became Pastora de los Llanos (Llanos Shepherds), and from the 2007–08 season on, Bravos de Margarita (Margarita Braves). This led to a change in format, with the eight teams being organized in two divisions:

1320-529: The league to replace Pampero. In 1965, the league expanded from 4 to 6 teams, with the addition of the teams Cardenales de Lara (Lara Cardinals) and Tigres de Aragua (Aragua Tigers). For the 1968-1969 tournament, the Industrymen left the city of Valencia and relocated to Acarigua with a new name: Los Llaneros. This left Valencia without a team, prompting the move of Navegantes del Magallanes from Caracas to Valencia, and their return to their original name for

1364-572: The most hits in the tournament with 17; and Tony Ordeñana (.256), who led the tournament with 14 runs scored, and would also go on to play a single major league game with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1943. The team was managed by Joaquín Viego, of the Hershey club. The Venezuelan team was largely made up of veterans who had played in the previous series: chief among them Héctor Benítez , who collected at least one hit in each of his nine games and led

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1408-508: The most successful team in the league. Leones del Caracas also went on to win three championships in a row starting in the 1979–80 season, and their first Caribbean Series in 1982 . The decade also saw success for the Tiburones de La Guaira, with the team winning 3 championships. Also in the 1980s, the Águilas del Zulia won their first two championships, all the way to also winning their first two Caribbean Series in 1984 and 1989 . In 1991,

1452-463: The owners of Cervecería Caracas (Caracas Brewery), Sabios de Vargas (Vargas Wisemen), Navegantes del Magallanes (Magellan Navigators), and Patriotas de Venezuela (Venezuelan Patriots) created the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. The league was formally registered as an institution during January 1946, and in the same month organized its first tournament, starting on January 3, 1946. Sabios de Vargas, led by Daniel 'Chino' Canónico , became

1496-531: The promises they make. Organizations and agents often crush the dreams of these baseball players through false promises and exploitation, and get away with these acts due to the lack of regulation and laws surrounding the exploitation of young athletes. Major League Baseball is aware of this issue, however due to the current system providing the league with cheaper talent, there is no urgency to resolve any existing issues. Venezuelan Professional Baseball League Baseball exploded in Venezuela in 1941, following

1540-412: The second and fifth games. The play-off final is a series in a best-of-seven-format between the winners of the semifinal-series. The winner of this series goes on to play is the Caribbean Series . The Venezuelan champion moves on to the Caribbean Series to face the champions of the baseball leagues of the Dominican Republic , Puerto Rico , Mexico , Panama and Colombia . Venezuelan teams have won

1584-411: The semifinals. The 2015–2016 season saw a new change in format, with a regular season divided in two rounds, which ranked the teams by their record and assigned points depending on their position in the table at the end of each round. The total points from both rounds are added at the end of the regular season, and the teams are then ranked by points. Also part of the format change was the introduction of

1628-478: The series with three triples ; José Pérez Colmenares , who drove in five runs and scored 11 times in the nine contests, and Daniel Canónico , who went 4–0 with a 1.69 ERA as the most dominant pitcher in the series. José Antonio Casanova earned the Most Valuable Player award for the tournament. Other players included outfielder Chucho Ramos (a future Cincinnati Red ), Dalmiro Finol , who would hit both

1672-532: The team and would go on to have a long Negro leagues career as well as a short stint with the Cincinnati Reds . Cuba and Venezuela finished the tournament with identical 7–1 records; Cuba's only defeat was to Venezuela, while Venezuela's only defeat was to the Dominican Republic. Though the Venezuelan federation was reportedly satisfied with being crowned co-champions with Cuba, Cuban organizers pushed for

1716-405: The team as Leones del Caracas (Caracas Lions), after the full name of the city, Santiago de Leon de Caracas . On October 17, 1952, the 1952-1953 season of the league started, with the first game of Leones del Caracas vs. Venezuela BBC. Leones del Caracas ended their season as champions for the first time. The next season, alongside the start of limited television coverage of the league, would see

1760-407: The team with better standing during the regular season has home advantage, playing the first two games as home club, then two games away, and if necessary, the fifth game is away and the last two games as home club. The semifinal round consists of two series in a best-of-seven format. The first team in one division faces the second team in the other division. There are rest days in both series after

1804-520: The third consecutive time, in Cuba . It was contested by nine national teams playing eight games each from September 27 through October 22 at the Estadio La Tropical in Havana . Venezuela won its first major international baseball title, defeating defending champions Cuba in a tie-breaker championship game. The victory is cited as the catalyst for baseball's exploding popularity in Venezuela , and

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1848-528: The tournament was changed to accommodate two rounds, with the top team of each round having a best-of-5 play-off to determine the champion. On August 8, 1952, Pablo Morales and Oscar Prieto Ortiz purchased the Cervecería Caracas team from Martín Tovar Lange , as the Caracas Brewery Co. was unable to continue sponsoring the team and it had the highest payroll of the league. The new owners renamed

1892-493: The tournament. Guillermo Prieto led the tournament in average, going 12-for-22 at the plate and hitting .545, the highest imark to that point in Amateur World Series history. The Dominican team was managed by the legendary Burrulote Rodriguez and included José St. Claire . Panama's León Kellman hit the only home run of the series and would go on to a career in the Negro leagues and Mexican League , while Pat Scantlebury pitched for

1936-443: Was established as the country's primary baseball league. The VPBL is a winter league that was established in 1945, with Leones del Caracas the leading team; another leading club is Valencia 's Navegantes del Magallanes , established in 1917. There are currently 8 teams in the league. There is a Venezuelan Summer League established in 1997 and composed of teams affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs. The Liga paralela

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