The Sabios de Vargas baseball club became a founding member of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League in its inaugural season of 1946. The team represented the city of La Guaira, Vargas and played its home games at the now-extinct Estadio Cerveza Caracas.
Team history
editThe VPBL opening game was realized on January 12, 1946. Besides Vargas, the circuit included the Cervecería Caracas, Navegantes del Magallanes and Patriotas de Venezuela teams, which resulted in a revised schedule of 30 games in which each team played its three opponents 10 times apiece. During the first season, the games were played on Thursdays and Saturdays on the afternoons, and Sundays in the morning. When the ballpark was fitted with electric lights, a game was added on Tuesday nights.[1]
In 1946 Vargas was co-managed by pitcher Daniel Canónico and catcher Roy Campanella, both of whom led the team to the title with an 18–12 record. Notably, pitcher Roy Welmaker hurled in 25 of the 30 games, including 25 starts, and posted a 12–8 record with 139 strikeouts and a 2.68 earned run average in 181⅔ innings of work. Welmaker led the league in victories, strikeouts and ERA to win easily the Triple crown.[2]
The league divided the 1946–47 season in two parts, while the number of games in the schedule was increased to 36. The final Championship Series faced first-half winner Vargas against Cervecería, second-half champ, in a best-of-five series. Vargas defeated Cervecería, 3 to 1, to become the first team to win consecutive titles in the league.[3][4]
Vargas finished second in 1947–48, but retired during the 1948–49 season due to economical problems. Eventually, the team continued to play for the next four seasons but never was able to recover its initial prestige, before finally folding at the end of the 1952–53 season. They changed their name to the Santa Marta BBC in 1954.[4]
Yearly team records
edit| Year | Record | Finish | Manager | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | 18–12 | 1st | Daniel Canónico Roy Campanella |
Won league title |
| 1946–47 | 11–7 (1st half) 6–12 (2nd half) |
1st 3rd |
Ernesto Aparicio Daniel Canónico |
Won championship title |
| 1947–48 | 24–15 | 2nd | Roy Campanella | |
| 1948–49 | 5–10 | – | José Rodríguez | Retired before the season ended |
| 1949–50 | 17–31 | 4th | Pelayo Chacón Raymond Brown |
|
| 1950–51 | 27–27 | 3rd | Ford Garrison | |
| 1951–52 | 22–35 | 4th | Ford Garrison | |
| 1952–53 | 26–31 | 4th | José Antonio Casanova |
Players of note
edit- Bob Alexander
- Luis Aparicio, Sr.
- Carlos Ascanio
- Frank Austin
- Frank Baldwin
- Sam Bankhead
- Clarence Beers
- Frank Biscan
- Roy Campanella
- Daniel Canónico
- Bill Cash
- Walt Chipple
- Larry Ciaffone
- Al Cihocki
- Claude Corbitt
- Emilio Cueche
- Clem Dreisewerd
- Jim Dyck
- Howard Easterling
- Robert Elliott
- Jonas Gaines
- Ford Garrison
- Tom Glover
- Sam Hairston
- Hal Hudson
- Sam Jethroe
- Walt Lanfranconi
- Les Layton
- Lynn Lovenguth
- Clyde McNeal
- Frank Mancuso
- Don Newcombe
- Andrew Porter
- William Ricks
- Harry Simpson
- Hilton Smith
- Tommy Warren
- Roy Welmaker
- Marvin Williams
- Johnnie Wittig
- John Wright
- Lenny Yochim
Sources
edit- ^ Gutiérrez, Daniel; Alvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez (h), Daniel (2006). La Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela. LVBP, Caracas. ISBN 980-6996-02-X
- ^ "SDV-1946". www.purapelota.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
- ^ "SDV-1946-47". www.purapelota.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
- ^ a b La enciclopedia del béisbol en Venezuela (in Spanish). Fondo Editorial Cárdenas Lares. 1997.