1956 Caribbean Series

The 1956 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the eighth edition of the first stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held in Panamá, Panamá from February 10 to February 15. The series featured four teams from Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Cienfuegos of the Cuban Winter League won the series and were managed by Oscar Rodríguez. The Most Valuable Player was Rafael Noble, a catcher with Cienfuegos.

Cienfuegos got a 2-hit shutout by Rene Valdez in game four against Chesterfield, a whitewash by Camilo Pascual in game five against Valencia and a fine outing by Pedro Ramos in the finale, a 4-2 clincher over Caguas, who had topped them in game three. Series MVP Ray Noble hit .400/~.654/.400 and drew 11 walks in the six games; also helping out were 2B Curt Roberts (.375, 6 R, .542 SLG), 1B Bob Boyd (.304, .522 SLG, 10 RBI), 3B Milt Smith (.261, 2 HR, .522 SLG) and SS Chico Fernandez (.286, .429 SLG, 10 R). Pascual (2-0, 10 H in 18), Gutierrez (1-0, 3 H, 10 K in 9 1/3) and Ramos (2-0) headed the staff.

Chesterfield hit a then-Series-record 12 homers, including five in an 18-0 rout of Valencia. Five guys hit multiple homers, led by 1B Elias Osorio (.286, .762 SLG, 3 HR). Don Elston (1-0) was their lone unbeaten hurler.

Caguas got fine pitching from Taylor Phillips (1-0, 9 H, 0 BB in 19 1/3 IP) while 1B Lou Limmer (.350, .850 SLG, 6 R, 8 RBI) and OF Ramon Maldonado (.348, .696 SLG, 8 R) led the offense. SS Felix Mantilla only hit .074.

Valencia got many poor performances, bottomed out by 1B Tommy Brown (2 for 25). Turk Farrell (1-1) allowed only 7 hits in 18 innings, but Ron Mrozinski (0-1) allowed 6 hits in 1 1/3 IP and Emilio Cueche (0-1) gave up 17 in 8 innings. Their 14 runs were less than half of any other team in the tourney.

Final Standings[edit]

Team	League	G	W	L	WPCT	Manager
Cienfuegos	CUB Cuban Winter League	6	5	1	0.833	Oscar Rodríguez
Caguas-Guayama	PRI Puerto Rican League	6	3	3	0.500	Ben Geraghty
Chesterfield	PAN Panamanian League	6	3	3	0.500	Al Kubski
Industriales de Valencia	VEN Venezuelan League	6	1	5	0.167	Regino Otero