1957 Caribbean Series

From BR Bullpen

The 1957 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the ninth edition of the first stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held in Havana, Cuba from February 9 to February 14. The series featured four teams from Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The Marianao Tigers of the Cuban Winter League won the series and were managed by Napoleón Reyes. The Most Valuable Player was Solly Drake, an outfielder with Marianao.

Jim Bunning and Mike Fornieles won games one and two for Marianao, the Cuban Winter League champions, but Jose Santiago blanked them on three hits in game three. Bunning relieved Connie Marrero in the 4th inning of game four and pitched scoreless ball the rest of the way for a 3-1 win to clinch it for Cuba.

The Cuban squad got fine work from MVP Drake (.455, .500 SLG, 9 R, 4 SB) and outfield mate Minnie Minoso (.391, 5 R, 7 RBI). C Hal Smith (.273) drove in seven but the offense was primarily a two-man job; they still led the low-scoring Series with 27 runs (in six games, they only homered once). Their 3 errors and .987 fielding percentage were clearly the best - every other team had at least 10 miscues. Bunning (2-0, 8 H in 14 2/3 IP) was the pitching star.

For Panama, a surprisingly strong second place finish was led by Winston Brown (2-0, 1 R, 9 H in 18 IP) and George Brunet (1-1, 17 K in 15 1/3 IP, the first pitcher in Series history to whitewash a Puerto Rican outfit) on the mound. 1B Harold Gordon hit .412. Panama only scored 14 runs in their six games, yet split them thanks to their fine pitching.

Mayaguez had no undefeated pitchers other than Santiago, who only appeared in his gem against Cuba. 1B Bob Speake (.391, .652 SLG, 5 RBI) and OF Canena Marquez (.375, .792 SLG, 2 HR, 5 R) guided the offense.

For Caracas, the leading contributors were C Johnny Roseboro (.378, .556 SLG, 5 R) and 2B Yo-Yo Davalillo (.381, 3 SB).

Final Standings[edit]

Team League G W L WPCT Manager
Marianao Tigers Flag of Cuba CUB Cuban Winter League 6 5 1 0.833 Napoleón Reyes
Balboa Flag of Panama PAN Panamanian League 6 3 3 0.500 Stanford Graham
Leones del Caracas Flag of Venezuela VEN Venezuelan League 6 2 4 0.333 Clay Bryant
Indios de Mayagüez Flag of Puerto Rico PRI Puerto Rican League 6 2 4 0.333 Mickey Owen

Leaders[edit]

Sources[edit]

Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History by Jorge Figueredo

Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series)

First Series
1949
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Winter League

Cuban Winter League | Dominican Winter League
Mexican Pacific League | Panama League
Puerto Rican Winter League | Venezuelan League

Most Valuable Player | Serie Interamericana | Confederación de Béisbol del Caribe
Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame