1959 Caribbean Series

The 1959 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the eleventh edition of the first stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held in Caracas, Venezuela from February 10 to February 15. The series featured four teams from Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Almendares of the Cuban Winter League won the series and were managed by Sungo Carrera. The Most Valuable Player was Norm Cash, a first baseman with Oriente.

Over 125,000 fans came out during the Series, which featured the first 0-6 team in Series history and an attempt for the first Venezuelan champion.

The Almendares Scorpions lost the opener 2-1 to Ruben Gomez of the Santurce Crabbers but rallied to win their last five games and take the title. In the finale (witnessed by over 30,000), Almendares beat Oriente, which was seeking to become the first Venezuelan team ever to win, with Camilo Pascual winning an 8-2 game.

Almendares had a well-balanced attack on offense including OF Carlos Paula (.462) and Sandy Amoros (.333/~.500/.412), 1B Rocky Nelson (.320, 6 RBI), 2B Tony Taylor (.346, .462 SLG, 3 SB) and SS Willie Miranda (.316). Camilo Pascual (2-0, 16 K in 18 IP) and Orlando Pena (1-1, 10 H in 17 2/3 IP) headehd the staff, which included two more famous names in Mike Cuellar (1-0, 0 H but 3 BB in 2 2/3 IP) and Tommy Lasorda (5 H in 3 1/3 IP).

For Oriente, Babe Birrer (2-0, 18 K, 14 H, 3 BB in 21 2/3 IP) did a fine job as the ace. OF Jesus Mora hit .417 and slugged .583, while 3B Camaleon Garcia batted .417 and slugged .625. The Venezuelans were the only team with multiple homers (2, both by OF-1B Norm Cash, who hit .360, slugged .680 and drove in 11) and led the tourney with 32 runs scored.

Santurce's top pitcher was Marion Fricano (1-0, 5 H in 9 IP) and the offense was led by C Valmy Thomas (.381) and 1B Orlando Cepeda (.333, .625 SLG).

For last-place Panama, becoming the first winless team, the top star was OF Ken Hunt (.304, .609 SLG< who had their only triple, only home run and five of 11 RBI).

Final Standings[edit]

Team	League	G	W	L	WPCT	Manager
Almendares	CUB Cuban Winter League	6	5	1	0.833	Clemente Carrera
Oriente	VEN Venezuelan League	6	4	2	0.667	Kerby Farrell
Cangrejeros de Santurce	PRI Puerto Rican League	6	3	3	0.500	Monchile Concepción
Cocle	PAN Panamanian League	6	0	6	0.000	Billy Shantz