1952 Caribbean Series

Template:Short description Template:Infobox international baseball tournament The fourth edition of the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was played in 1952. It was held from February 20 through February 26, featuring the champion baseball teams of Cuba, Leones del Habana; Panama, Carta Vieja Yankees; Puerto Rico, Senadores de San Juan and Venezuela, Cervecería Caracas. The format consisted of 12 games, each team facing the other teams twice, and the games were played at Panama City. The first pitch was thrown by Alcibíades Arosemena, by then the President of Panama.

Summary

Cuba became the first country to win two Caribbean Series championships with an undefeated record of 5–0. The Cuban team, with manager/catcher Mike González at the helm, won the Series behind a strong pitching effort by Tommy Fine, who posted a 2–0 record with a 1.50 ERA in two complete-games and won Most Valuable Player honors. After a 3–3 tie against Puerto Rico in the Series opener, he was called by the Cuban team as a late replacement for future Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm. Fine posted the first no-hitter pitched in any Caribbean series game, to give his team a 1–0 win against Venezuela. Five days later, Fine faced Panama's club and was close to glory. He was three outs from consecutive no-hitters in the series, having allowed a single in the ninth inning to break it up. His 17 hitless streak also is the longest in series history. Outfielder Sandy Amorós led series hitters with a .450 batting average (9-for-20), including personal numbers with a .650 SLG, six runs, six RBI. Other contributions came from OF Fernando Pedroso (.400), catcher Andrés Fleitas (.304), and infielders Lou Klein (.333) and Spider Jorgensen, who hit two of the team's three home runs.

The clubs from Panama and Venezuela tied for second place with a 3–3 record. Panama was managed by Al Leap and included in the roster infielders Spook Jacobs, Joe Tuminelli and Jim Cronin, catcher León Kellman, and pitchers Connie Johnson and Marion Fricano.

The Venezuelan club, led by José Antonio Casanova, featured players as right fielder Wilmer Fields (.360, two HR, .720 SLG, 8 RBI), shortstop Chico Carrasquel and third baseman Luis García, as well as catcher/outfielder Guillermo Vento and pitchers José Bracho, Emilio Cueche, Bob Griffith, Johnny Hetki, Al Papai and Luis Zuloaga. In addition, center fielder Héctor Benítez and third baseman Buddy Hicks joined Fields in the All-Star team.

After a tied game with Cuba, Puerto Rico's team failed to win in their next five games. Managed by Fred Thon, their roster included outfielders Nino Escalera and Luis Rodríguez Olmo; pitchers Red Adams, Luis Arroyo, Art Ditmar and Pantalones Santiago, and OF/P Cot Deal.

Participating teams

Team	Manager
Template:Flagicon Carta Vieja Yankees	Template:Flagicon Al Leap
Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas	Template:Flagicon José Antonio Casanova
Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana	Template:Flagicon Mike González
Template:Flagicon Senadores de San Juan	Template:Flagicon Freddie Thon

Final standings

Scoreboards

Game 1, February 20

Team	Template:Linescore/style | 1	Template:Linescore/style | 2	Template:Linescore/style | 3	Template:Linescore/style | 4	Template:Linescore/style | 5	Template:Linescore/style | 6	Template:Linescore/style | 7	Template:Linescore/style | 8	Template:Linescore/style | 9	Template:Linescore/style | R	Template:Linescore/style | H	Template:Linescore/style | E
Cuba	0	0	1	0	0	3	0	6	0	3	5	1
Puerto Rico	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	3	7	2
Template:Br separated entries Game 2, February 20 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | 10 Template:Linescore/style | 11 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 10 1 Panama 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   6 2 Template:Br separated entries Game 3, February 21 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cuba 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 x 1 4 2 Template:Br separated entries Game 4, February 21 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Panama 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 6 9 2 Puerto Rico 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 2 Template:Br separated entries Game 5, February 22 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | 10 Template:Linescore/style | 11 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Venezuela 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 8 2 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 1 Template:Br separated entries Game 6, February 22 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Panama 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 3 Cuba 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 x 4 5 1 Template:Br separated entries Game 7, February 23 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 Cuba 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 7 0 Template:Br separated entries Game 8, February 23 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Panama 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 8 0 Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 8 1 Template:Br separated entries Game 9, February 24 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Cuba 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 7 8 1 Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 4 Template:Br separated entries Game 10, February 25 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 9 1 Panama 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 x 4 9 0 Template:Br separated entries Game 11, February 26 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3   7 1 Venerzuela 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 x 6 11 2 Template:Br separated entries Game 12, February 26 Team Template:Linescore/style | 1 Template:Linescore/style | 2 Template:Linescore/style | 3 Template:Linescore/style | 4 Template:Linescore/style | 5 Template:Linescore/style | 6 Template:Linescore/style | 7 Template:Linescore/style | 8 Template:Linescore/style | 9 Template:Linescore/style | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Cuba 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 11 16 0 Panama 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3   3   3 2 Template:Br separated entries Statistics leaders Statistic Player Team Total Batting average Template:Flagicon Sandy Amorós Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana .450 Home runs Template:Flagicon Wilmer Fields Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas 2 Template:Flagicon Spider Jorgensen Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Runs batted in Template:Flagicon Wilmer Fields Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas 7 Runs Template:Flagicon Stan Breard Template:Flagicon Senadores de San Juan 8 Hits Template:Flagicon Sandy Amorós Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana 9 Template:Flagicon Wilmer Fields Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas Template:Flagicon Spook Jacobs Template:Flagicon Carta Vieja Yankees Doubles Template:Flagicon Sandy Amorós Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana 4 Triples Template:Flagicon John Kropf Template:Flagicon Carta Vieja Yankees 1 Template:Flagicon Alberto Osorio Template:Flagicon Carta Vieja Yankees Stolen bases Template:Flagicon Jerry Lynch Template:Flagicon Carta Vieja Yankees 2 Wins Template:Flagicon Tommy Fine Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana 2 Earned run average Template:Flagicon Tommy Fine Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana 0.00 Complete games Template:Flagicon Tommy Fine Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana 2 Template:Flagicon Johnny Hetki Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas Strikeouts Template:Flagicon Johnny Hetki Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas 9 Walks Template:Flagicon Cot Deal Template:Flagicon Senadores de San Juan 9 Awards Tournament Awards Award Player Team MVP Template:Flagicon Tommy Fine Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Best manager Template:Flagicon Mike González Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana All Star Team Position Player Team First base Template:Flagicon Eddie Neville Template:Flagicon Carta Vieja Yankees Second base Template:Flagicon Spook Jacobs Template:Flagicon Carta Vieja Yankees Third base Template:Flagicon Buddy Hicks Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas Shortstop Template:Flagicon Lou Klein Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Left field Template:Flagicon Sandy Amorós Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Center field Template:Flagicon Héctor Benítez Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas Right field Template:Flagicon Wilmer Fields Template:Flagicon Cervecería Caracas Catcher Template:Flagicon Andrés Fleitas Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Pitcher Template:Flagicon Tommy Fine Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana See also Latin American Series (1952) Ballplayers who have played in the Series References Sources Antero Núñez, José. Series del Caribe. Jefferson, Caracas, Venezuela: Impresos Urbina, C.A., 1987. Gutiérrez, Daniel. Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela – 1895-2006 . Caracas, Venezuela: Impresión Arte, C.A., 2007. External links Official site Latino Baseball Series del Caribe, Las (Spanish)