Caribbean World Series
The Caribbean World Series of Professional Baseball —or Serie del Caribe del Beisbol Profesional in Spanish— is a baseball tournament that is played every year, usually during the month of February, in one of the countries of the Caribbean, Mexico, Panama, or Venezuela.
The Caribbean World Series was an idea of the Venezuelan Oscar Prieto and Pablo Morales. Every year, the championship team of each of the countries represented, participates to try to win the Caribbean baseball championship. The series used to include Cuba and Panama, but those countries later withdrew because of different reasons. Nowadays, participating teams are the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, although Venezuela had to withdraw from the 2003 series because the general strike there prevented their baseball tournament from being celebrated. The Caguas Creoles, Puerto Rico's runner up in their national tournament, played instead.
The series is usually played up to six games per team, although some series have had games cut from or added to the schedule. The winner of the series is the team with the most wins after each team plays six games.
Series Highlights
- 1949- The first series is played, Almendares of Cuba becomes champion.
- 1950- Panama's representative wins, in Panama's only championship ever.
- 1951- Puerto Rico wins for the first time.
- 1952- Cuba becomes the first country with two championships.
- 1954- Puerto Rico becomes the first country to win back to back championships, when Criollos de Caguas win the title.
- 1955- Puerto Rico's Cangrejeros de Santurce win the title, making Puerto Rico also the first country to have back to back to back titles.
- 1960- Cuba wins what would be the last series in 10 years. After professional baseball is prohibited in Cuba, the series is cancelled.
- 1970- The series resumes, and the Dominican Republic debuts. Venezuela wins their first series championship
- 1971- Mexico debuts in the tournament.
- 1974- Venezuela didn't participate because of a strike.
- 1975- The Vaqueros of Bayamon give Puerto Rico another title.
- 1976- Mexico wins their first championship, with Hermosillo's team winning.
- 1981- Another strike in Venezuela causes the series to be cancelled that year.
- 1984- The Dominican Republic wins in San Juan before the smallest attendance overall ever in the series.
- 1987- The Criollos de Caguas come back from an almost disastrous 0-2 start to tie for the top spot and win a winner take all game against the Dominican Republic.
- 1990- For the first time, the series is moved outside the Caribbean, as Miami is host.
- 1991- The series returns to Miami, but with little fan interest. The Dominicans become back to back champions, beating Venezuela in 2 games, in a series that was marked by an experimental schedule that included a championship series between the first two teams on the standing.
- 1993- Puerto Rico became back to back champions.
- 1997- The Dominican Republic overcomes an 0-2 start, like Puerto Rico ten years before, to win the championship.
- 2003 - Because of the general strike against Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's team does not participate. The Dominican Republic wins the title.
Important baseball players who have participated
