1979-1980 Cuban National League

The 1979-1980 season was the nineteenth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 19th Serie Nacional was won by Santiago de Cuba, who were managed by Manuel Miyar. The team edges out Villa Clara by one game as well as the Pinar del Río Province teams, Forestales and Vegueros, by two games.

Pedro José Rodríguez, Sr. hits 18 home runs for Cienfuegos, but is joined at the top of the league leaders board by the Vegueros' young slugger Luis Giraldo Casanova. For the last time, Braudilio Vinent leads the serie in wins with 12 victoies for the league champions. With 69 hits in 175 at bats, Metropolitanos' Rodolfo Puente hits .394 – two points short of the serie record.

The champions were led by players such as Jose Luis Alemán, Braudilio Vinent, Ramon Otamendi, and Modesto Larduet.

In the summer, former national team member Barbaro Garbey leaves Cuba as a Mariel Boatlift refugee. Two years earlier, Garbey had been banned for life (along with 17 other players and coaches) for his involvement in a run-shaving scandal.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
Santiago de Cuba	51	35	16	0	0.686	-.-
Villa Clara	51	34	17	0	0.667	1.0
Forestales	51	33	18	0	0.647	2.0
Vegueros	51	33	18	0	0.647	2.0
Industriales	51	31	20	0	0.608	4.0
Sancti Spíritus	51	31	20	0	0.608	4.0
Metropolitanos	50	30	20	0	0.600	4.5
Holguín	49	28	21	0	0.571	6.0
Henequeneros	50	28	21	1	0.560	6.0
Citricultores	49	25	24	0	0.510	9.0
Cienfuegos	51	26	25	0	0.510	9.0
Granma	51	22	29	0	0.431	13.0
Camagüey	51	21	30	0	0.412	14.0
Guantánamo	51	18	33	0	0.353	17.0
Ciego de Ávila	51	18	33	0	0.353	17.0
La Habana	50	17	32	1	0.340	17.0
Las Tunas	50	12	38	0	0.240	22.5
Isla de la Juventud	51	12	39	0	0.235	23.0

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	Rodolfo Puente	Metropolitanos	.394	69 hits in 175 at-bats
Runs Scored	Luis G. Casanova	Vegueros	64
Base Hits	Lourdes Gourriel Sr.	Sancti Spíritus	77
Doubles	Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	17
Triples	Joaquín Martínez	La Habana	7
Home Runs	Pedro J. Rodríguez Luis G. Casanova	Cienfuegos Vegueros	18	158 at-bats 162 at-bats
Runs Batted In	Pedro J. Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	55
Base-on-Balls	Luis G. Casanova	Vegueros	57
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Pedro J. Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	13
Hit-by-Pitch	Luis G. Casanova Rodolfo Phillips	Vegueros Ciego de Ávila	10
Strikeouts	Juan L. Baró	Citricultores	41
Sacrifice Hit	Israel Delgado	Citricultores	8
Sacrifice Fly	Hiran Fuentes Luis G. Casanova Jorge Francis Modesto Larduet	Vegueros Vegueros Holguín Santiago de Cuba	5
Stolen Bases	Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	19

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Braudilio Vinent	Santiago de Cuba	12
Win-Loss Percentage	Reinaldo López	Industriales	1.000	6 - 0
Earned Run Average	[[José Sánchez Andrés}José Sánchez]]	Camagüey	0.76	7 ER in 83.1 IP
Innings Pitched	Braudilio Vinent	Santiago de Cuba	124.0
Games Pitched	Leonardo Hernández Alfonso Ilivanes José G. Perulena	Henequeneros Guantánamo Isla de la Juventud	19
Games Started	José M. Pedroso Rafael Rodríguez Ramón Castellanos Tony Simó	La Habana Citricultores Cienfuegos Sancti Spíritus	15
Games Relieved	Leonardo Hernández	Henequeneros	17
Complete Games	Braudilio Vinent José M. Darcourt	Santiago de Cuba Metropolitanos	13
Shutouts	José M. Darcourt	Metropolitanos	5
Hits Allowed	José M. Pedroso	La Habana	120
Strikeouts	Rogelio García	Vegueros	132
Base-on-Balls	René Arocha Gilberto Ferrales	Metropolitanos Las Tunas	52
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Ernesto Andreu	Camagüey	11
Hit Batters	José M. Pedroso	La Habana	12

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Pedro José Rodríguez, Sr., a third baseman with Cienfuegos. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Braudilio Vinent of Santiago de Cuba. Reinaldo López of Industriales was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Series Selectivas

The sixth Series Selectivas was won by Pinar del Río, managed by the José Pineda.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Pinar del Río	59	39	20	0.661	-.-
Habana	60	33	27	0.550	6.5
Camagüeyanos	59	31	28	0.525	8.0
Las Villas	60	30	30	0.500	9.5
Matanzas	60	27	33	0.450	12.5
Orientales	60	19	41	0.317	20.5

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .459 - Héctor Olivera Sr., Las Villas
• Base Hits: 88 - Wilfredo Sánchez, Matanzas
• Runs Scored: 56 - Pedro Jova, Las Villas
• Doubles: 17 - Agustín Marquetti, Habana
• Triples: 5 - Rogelio García González, Pinar del Río; Luis Crespo, Pinar del Río
• Home Runs: 18 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Runs Batted In: 67 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Stolen Bases: 17 - Rey Anglada, Habana

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 0.889 (8 - 1) - Juan Oliva, Pinar del Río
• Games Pitched: 21 - Dagoberto Rodríguez, Camagüeyanos
• Complete Games: 10 - Julio Romero, Pinar del Río
• Wins: 9 - Rogelio García, Pinar del Río
• Innings Pitched: 114.2 - José Darcourt, Habana
• Strikeouts: 91 - José Darcourt, Habana
• Earned Run Average: 1.87 - Omar Carrero, Camagüeyanos

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1980 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XIX serie 1980 (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