1951 Caribbean Series

The 1951 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the third edition of the first stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held in Caracas, Venezuela from February 22 to February 25. The series was delayed two days due to heavy rain. The series featured four teams from Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. The Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican League won the series and were managed by Tubby Scales. The Most Valuable Player was Luis Olmo, an outfielder with the Cangrejeros de Santurce.

The Cangrejeros de Santurce won the Series despite losing the regular season of the Puerto Rican Winter League season to defending Series runnerup Caguas-Guayama. Adrian Zabala pitched the Havana Reds into the Series by beating the former champion Almendares club in the Cuban Winter League finale.

In the opener of the Caribbean Series, Jose Santiago beat Havana 13-1 to give Santurce a victory. Magallanes (the Venezuelan League champion) routed Spur Cola of the Panama League 10-2 thanks to a five-hitter by Clem Labine.

On February 23, Connie Johnson and Spur Cola beat Havana 12-2 and Santurce edged Magallanes 8-7 to remain the lone unbeaten team. Santurce edged Panama 4-3 and Bill Ayers held Magallanes to one run to give Havana a 9-1 victory.

On February 25, Jose Bracho allowed 5 hits and Magallenes beat Spur Cola 13-2. Zabala handed Santurce their lone loss, 4-3. Santurce rebounded later in the day by beating Magallanes 6-4 behind Santiago.

On February 26, Havana's Hoyt Wilhelm pitched a 4-hitter and beat Johnso nand Spur Cola 2-1. Santurce crushed Spur Cola 12-1 to wrap up the pennant behind Ruben Gomez. Havana then beat Magallanes 7-5 in the finale.

Luis Olmo was picked as the MVP. The Santurce OF hit .423 for the Series and homered twice in the finale; his three homers led the tourney and he drove in nine. Supporting him on Puerto Rico were Santiago (2-0 despite 15 BB in 18 IP) and Gomez (2-0), 1B George Crowe (.333, .667 SLG, 7 RBI), SS Stan Breard (.423, .577 SLG, 7 R, 8 RBI) and OF Bob Thurman (.364, .727 SLG, 6 R, 6 RBI). The club also had Hall-of-Famer Willard Brown (.250, .400 SLG) in the outfield.

Cuba was managed by Mike Gonzalez . The Reds got good work from Zabala (2-0), OF Pedro Formental (.316, .632 SLG) and 1B Lorenzo Cabrera (.619).

Lazaro Salazar guided the Magallanes Navigators, who included Bracho (1-1), Clem Labine (1-1) and 1B Rene Gonzalez (.350, .750 SLG, a Series-leading 11 RBI). Johnny Davis (.278/~.536/.333) capitalized on a tourney-leading 10 walks to score six runs, the most for the team.

Spur Cola was managed by Leon Kellman. Connie Johnson (1-1) got their lone win, while the top hitter was 1B Archie Ware (.348).

Final Standings[edit]

Team	League	G	W	L	WPCT	Manager
Cangrejeros de Santurce	PRI Puerto Rican League	6	5	1	0.833	George Scales
Habana	CUB Cuban Winter League	6	4	2	0.667	Miguel González
Navegantes del Magallanes	VEN Venezuelan League	6	2	4	0.333	Lázaro Salazar
Spur Cola	PAN Panamanian League	6	1	5	0.167	Wayne Blackburn