1953 Caribbean Series

The 1953 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the fifth edition of the first stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held at Gran Stadium in Havana, Cuba from February 20 to February 25. The series featured four teams from Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican League won the series - the first two-time champions. The Most Valuable Player was Willard Brown, an outfielder with the Cangrejeros de Santurce.

Team Summaries

Santurce was a team that finished second in the regular season of the Puerto Rican League but took the playoffs. The team hit .367 as a team in the Series and slugged .575 to produce 50 runs. The star pitcher was Bobo Holloman, who went 2-0 in the Series, while slugger and MVP Willard Brown, a future Hall-of-Famer, smacked 4 homers and drove in 13 in 4 games, setting Series records. Santurce had five regulars top .380 - 2B Junior Gilliam (.545, .864 SLG, 7 R), OF Bob Thurman (.474, .684 SLG), Brown (.417, 1.042 SLG, 8 R in addition to the 4 HR and 13 RBI), SS/manager Bus Clarkson (.467, 6 R) and 3B Vic Power (.385, 6 R). Cot Deal was another regular on the team. They only had two errors in the six games.

The hometown Havana club was clearly led by Pedro Formental, who had the series' highest batting average at .560 (.800 SLG, 8 RBI), though 1B Bert Haas did hit .360, slug .600 and score five and 3B Lou Klein (.316, .579 SLG) scored seven. It was a balanced attack overall.

Caracas had little going for them other than Bishop's gem on the hill. They hit .234 as a team and homered twice.

Chesterfield had the fewest runs (18) and most errors (10) in the tourney. One of the few bright spots was OF Nat Peeples, who hit .400 and slugged .733.

Final Standings

Team	League	G	W	L	WPCT	Manager
Cangrejeros de Santurce	PRI Puerto Rican League	6	6	0	1.000	Bus Clarkson
Habana	CUB Cuban Winter League	6	3	3	0.500	Miguel González
Chesterfield	PAN Panamanian League	6	2	4	0.333	Al Leap
Leones del Caracas	VEN Venezuelan League	6	1	5	0.167	Martín Dihigo

Leaders

• Batting Average: .560 - Pedro Formental, Habana
• Home Runs: 4 - Willard Brown, Cangrejeros de Santurce
• Runs Batted In: 13 - Willard Brown, Cangrejeros de Santurce
• Wins: 2 - Bobo Holloman, Cangrejeros de Santurce

The Games

February 20

Game 1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chesterfield	0	1	0	1	0	2	2	-	-	6	7	0
Santurce	1	4	3	4	3	0	0	-	-	15	14	0
Win: Gómez (1-0) Loss: Patrick (0-1)

Game called after seven innings due to time limit.

Game 2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Caracas	1	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	7	8	1
Havana	3	0	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	10	12	2
Win: Pascual (1-0) Loss: Yochim (0-1)

February 21

Game 3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Santurce	0	0	2	0	1	4	0	0	0	7	13	0
Caracas	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	4	12	1
Win: Holloman (1-0) Loss: Starr (0-1)

Game 4

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Havana	1	0	0	1	1	0	3	0	0	6	10	1
Chesterfield	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	7	2
Win: Picone (1-0) Loss: Scantlebury (0-1)

February 22

Game 5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Caracas	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	5	0
Chesterfield	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Win: Bishop (1-0) Loss: Nicolis (0-1)

Charlie Bishop threw a one-hit shutout

Game 6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Havana	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	5	10	0
Santurce	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	12	0
Win: Deal (1-0) Loss: Pascual (1-1)

The two previously unbeaten clubs faced off, with Santurce winning with an exciting comeback in the 9th against Pascual (the losing pitcher) and Picone.

February 23

Game 7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Santurce	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	1	6	13	2
Chesterfield	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	14	1
Win: Deal (2-0) Loss: Osorio (0-1)

Game 8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Havana	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	6	14	0
Caracas	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	4	5	1
Win: Alexander (1-0) Loss: Yochim (0-2)

February 24

Game 9

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chesterfield	2	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	5	10	0
Havana	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	11	0
Win: Robinson (1-0) Loss: Pascual (1-2)

Game 10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Caracas	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	3
Santurce	2	1	0	4	0	2	0	0	x	9	13	0
Win: Holloman (2-0) Loss: Heard (0-1)

Santurce clinches the title with a 5-0 record with Havana in second place at 3-2 with one day of games left to play.

February 25

Game 11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chesterfield	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	6	2
Caracas	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	1
Win: Scantlebury (1-1) Loss: Bracho (0-1)

Game 12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Santurce	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	3	7	16	0
Havana	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	9	0
Win: Vargas (0-1) Loss: Thompson (0-1)

Sources

• 1953 Baseball Guide
• V SERIE DEL CARIBE - 1953
• Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History by Jorge Figueredo