1957 Caribbean Series
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 | CUB Cuban Winter League | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0.833 | Napoleón Reyes |
Balboa | PAN Panamanian League | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0.500 | Stanford Graham |
Leones del Caracas | VEN Venezuelan League | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0.333 | Clay Bryant |
Indios de Mayagüez | PRI Puerto Rican League | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0.333 | Mickey Owen |
Leaders[edit]
- Batting Average: .500 - Sammy Drake, Marianao Tigers
- Home Runs: 2 - Luis Márquez, Indios de Mayagüez
- Runs Batted In: 7 - Minnie Miñoso, Marianao Tigers
- Wins: 2 - Jim Bunning, Marianao Tigers
Sources[edit]
Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History by Jorge Figueredo
Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series)
First Series
| |||||||||
Most Valuable Player | Serie Interamericana | Confederación de Béisbol del Caribe | |||||||||
Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame |
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