1980-1981 Cuban National League

The 1980-1981 season was the twentieth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The twentieth Serie Nacional was won by Vegueros of Pinar del Río Province. José Miguel Pineda's club beat out Villa Clara and Citricultores by three games.

Rogelio García is the Vegueros' ace with a 1.31 ERA, 10 wins, and 5 shutouts – he wins the MVP and pitcher of the year honors. He fails to win the strikeout title however as Braudilio Vinent (Santiago de Cuba) wins his last strikeout title with 90 Ks. This interrupts García's four year run of leading the league – García will win the next two strikeout titles.

For the third time in four years a batter comes one hit shy of breaking Fermín Laffita's record .396 average. Villa Clara's Amado Zamora has 63 hits in 160 at-bats for a .394 average. Antonio Pacheco, the future all-time hits leader, makes his Serie Nacional début with with Santiago de Cuba.

Aside from García, the Pinareños' main players were Luis Giraldo Casanova, Juan Castro, Giraldo Iglesias, Lázaro Madera, Carmelo Pedroso, and Alfonso Urquiola.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Vegueros	51	36	15	0.706	-.-
Villa Clara	51	33	18	0.647	3.0
Citricultores	51	33	18	0.647	3.0
Industriales	51	32	19	0.627	4.0
Forestales	51	31	20	0.608	5.0
Cienfuegos	51	30	21	0.588	6.0
Sancti Spíritus	51	28	23	0.549	8.0
Guantánamo	51	26	25	0.510	10.0
Henequeneros	51	25	26	0.490	11.0
Santiago de Cuba	51	25	26	0.490	11.0
Granma	51	24	27	0.471	12.0
Metropolitanos	51	23	28	0.451	13.0
Camagüey	51	23	28	0.451	13.0
Holguín	51	22	29	0.431	14.0
Isla de la Juventud	51	20	31	0.392	16.0
Ciego de Ávila	51	19	32	0.373	17.0
La Habana	51	18	33	0.353	18.0
Las Tunas	51	11	40	0.216	25.0

All-Star Game

The sixth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Havana. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 4 to 3. Occidentales had 9 hits to Oriente's 8, while the errors were 1 to 2 in favor of Occidentales. The winning pitcher was Roberto Ramos and the losing pitcher was Pablo Pérez.

Leaders

Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	Amado Zamora	Villa Clara	.394	63 hits in 160 at-bats
Runs Scored	Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	60
Base Hits	Pablo Pérez	Isla de la Juventud	76
Doubles	Juan L. Baró	Citricultores	16
Triples	Lázaro Junco	Citricultores	6
Home Runs	Agustín Lescaille	Guantánamo	15
Runs Batted In	Alejo O'Reilly	Villa Clara	69
Base-on-Balls	Antonio Muñoz	Cienfuegos	47
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Fernando Sánchez	Henequeneros	11
Hit-by-Pitch	Luis G. Casanova	Vegueros	9
Strikeouts	Víctor Muñoz	Sancti Spíritus	45
Sacrifice Hit	Ramón Luna	Industriales	10
Sacrifice Fly	Lázaro Cabrera Agustín Arias Agustín Lescaille	Vegueros Granma Guantánamo	5
Stolen Bases	Rey V. Anglada	Metropolitanos	24

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Rogelio García Alfonso Ilivanes	Vegueros Guantánamo	10
Win-Loss Percentage	Maximiliano Gutiérrez	Vegueros	0.800	8 - 2
Earned Run Average	Rogelio García	Vegueros	1.31	17 ER in 116.2 IP
Innings Pitched	Alfonso Ilivanes	Guantánamo	118.2
Games Pitched	José G. Perulena Alberto Cabreja Miguel M. Isla Anselmo Martínez	Isla de la Juventud Holguín Sancti Spíritus Citricultores	18
Games Started	Alfonso Ilivanes Braudilio Vinent	Guantánamo Santiago de Cuba	15
Games Relieved	Miguel M. Isla	Sancti Spíritus	18
Complete Games	Rogelio García	Vegueros	12
Shutouts	Rogelio García	Vegueros	5
Hits Allowed	Alfonso Ilivanes Braudilio Vinent	Guantánamo Santiago de Cuba	113
Strikeouts	Braudilio Vinent	Santiago de Cuba	90
Base-on-Balls	Gilberto Ferrales	Las Tunas	48
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Julio Reyes Manuel Álvarez Pedro L. Palma Félix Núñez	Henequeneros Ciego de Ávila Granma Las Tunas	8
Hit Batters	José M. Pedroso	La Habana	12

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Rogelio García a pitcher with Vegueros. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Rogelio García of Vegueros. Rolando Verde of Industriales was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Series Selectivas

The seventh Series Selectivas was won by Orientales, managed by the Carlos Marti.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Orientales	60	38	22	0.633	-.-
Las Villas	60	37	23	0.617	1.0
Habana	60	35	25	0.583	3.0
Pinar del Río	59	32	27	0.542	5.5
Matanzas	59	23	36	0.390	14.5
Camagüeyanos	59	13	46	0.220	24.5

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .363 - Luis Casanova, Pinar del Río
• Base Hits: 82 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Runs Scored: 51 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Doubles: 26 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Triples: 4 - Juan Baró, Matanzas; Pablo Pérez, Habana; Oscar Rodríguez, Orientales; Luis Casanova, Pinar del Río; Francisco Costa, Pinar del Río
• Home Runs: 18 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Runs Batted In: 64 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Stolen Bases: 17 - Rey Anglada, Habana

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 0.818 (9 - 2) - Angel Díaz, Habana
• Games Pitched: 24 - Tomás Creo, Camagüeyanos
• Complete Games: 13 - Braudilio Vinent, Orientales
• Wins: 13 - Rafael Castillo, Orientales
• Innings Pitched: 138.0 - Braudilio Vinent, Orientales
• Strikeouts: 114 - Rogelio García, Pinar del Río
• Earned Run Average: 2.41 - José Alemán, Orientales

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1981 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XX serie 1981 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295