1953 Caribbean Series

Template:Short description Template:Infobox international baseball tournament The fifth edition of the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was played in 1953. It was held from February 20 through February 25, featuring the champion baseball teams of Cuba, Leones de la Habana; Panama, Chesterfield Smokers; Puerto Rico, Cangrejeros de Santurce, and Venezuela, Leones del Caracas. The format consisted of 12 games, each team facing the other teams twice. The games were played at Estadio del Cerro in Havana, the Cuban capital.

Summary

Puerto Rico finished undefeated and won the title by going 6-0, outscoring their opponents 50 to 23. The Santurce club, who hit a collective .367 batting average and committed only two errors, was led by right fielder and Series MVP Willard Brown, who enjoyed one of the most productive offensive in tournament's history. Brown led the hitters in home runs (4), RBI (13), runs (8), doubles (3) and SLG (1,042), while hitting .417 (10-for-24). The pitching staff was anchored by Bobo Holloman (2-0), Cot Deal (2-0, one save) and Rubén Gómez (1-0, one save). In addition to Brown, shortstop/manager Buster Clarkson (.467 BA), 2B Jim Gilliam (.545, two HR), RF Bob Thurman (.474, .684 SLG) and 3B Víctor Pellot Power (.385, one HR) also contributed to the attack. Other players for Puerto Rico included CF Luis (Canena) Márquez, P José (Pantalones) Santiago and catchers Joe Montalvo and Valmy Thomas.

The Cuban team, who many considered a favorite before the start of the event, wasted home-field advantage and a solid lineup managed by Mike González to end in second place with a 3-3 record. The Habana team was led by RF Pedro Formental, who posted a .560 mark to clinch the batting title. Other contributions came from 1B Bert Haas (.360, two HR, .600 SLG) and 3B Lou Klein (.316, one HR, .579 SLG). Pitchers Bob Alexander and Mario Picone collected wins, while Carlos (Patato) Pascual dropped two of three decisions. Cuba included LF Sandy Amorós, 2B Spider Jorgensen, CF Bob Usher, P Adrián Zabala, and catchers Andrés Fleitas and Dick Rand, between others.

Panama was managed by Stanford Graham and finished 2-4 in third place. The Panamanian squad got fine work of CF Nat Peeples (.400, .733 SLG), as well as pitchers Humberto Robinson (1-0) and Pat Scantlebury (1-1, 11 strikeouts in three games). The team also featured players as IFs Frank Austin and Joe Tuminelli, C León Kellman, and OFs Bobby Prescott and Dave Roberts. Collectively, Chesterfield scored the fewest runs (18) and committed the most errors (10) in the Series.

Venezuela, with Martín Dihigo at the helm, finished in last place with a 1-5 record. The Caracas lone victory came from Charlie Bishop, who pitched a one-hit shutout in Game 5. Among others were Ps Jay Heard, Dick Starr, Lenny Yochim and Luis Zuloaga; C Guillermo Vento; IFs Chico Carrasquel, Pompeyo Davalillo, Piper Davis and Hank Schenz, as well as OFs Dalmiro Finol, Lloyd Gearhart, Milt Nielsen and Gale Wade.

Participating teams

Team	Manager
Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce	Template:Flagicon Buster Clarkson
Template:Flagicon Chesterfield Smokers	Template:Flagicon Stanford Graham
Template:Flagicon Leones del Caracas	Template:Flagicon Martín Dihigo
Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana	Template:Flagicon Mike González

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 | R	Template:Linescore/style | H	Template:Linescore/style | E
Panama	0	1	0	1	0	2	2	6	7	0
Puerto Rico	1	4	3	4	3	0	0	15	14	0
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 | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Venezuela 1 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 0   7   1 Cuba 3 0 3 2 2 0 0 0 X 10 12 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 Puerto Rico 0 0 2 0 1 4 0 0 0 7 13 0 Venezuela 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 4 12 1 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 Cuba 1 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 6 10 1 Panama 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1   7 1 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 | R Template:Linescore/style | H Template:Linescore/style | E Venezuela 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 5 0 Panama 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 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 Cuba 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 5 13 0 Puerto Rico 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 12 0 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 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 6 13 2 Panama 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 14 1 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 Cuba 0 0 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 6 14 0 Venezuela 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 4   5 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 Venezuela 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2   6 2 Puerto Rico 2 1 0 4 0 2 0 0 X 9 13 0 Template:Br separated entries Game 10, 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 Panama 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 10 0 Cuba 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 11 0 Template:Br separated entries Game 11, 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 Panama 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 0 Venezuela 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 1 Template:Br separated entries Game 12, 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 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 7 16 0 Cuba 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 X 3   9 0 Template:Br separated entries Statistics leaders Statistic Player Team Total Batting average Template:Flagicon Pedro Formental Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana .560 Home runs Template:Flagicon Willard Brown Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce 4 Runs batted in Template:Flagicon Willard Brown Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce 13 Runs Template:Flagicon Willard Brown Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce 8 Hits Template:Flagicon Pedro Formental Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana 14 Doubles Template:Flagicon Willard Brown Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce 3 Triples Template:Flagicon Pedro Formental Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana 2 Stolen bases Ten tied 1 Wins Template:Flagicon Bobo Holloman Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce 2 Earned run average Template:Flagicon Charlie Bishop Template:Flagicon Leones del Caracas 0.00 Strikeouts Template:Flagicon Pat Scantlebury Template:Flagicon Chesterfield Smokers 11 Saves Template:Flagicon Cot Deal Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce 1 Template:Flagicon Pat Scantlebury Template:Flagicon Chesterfield Smokers Innings pitched Template:Flagicon Bobo Holloman Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce 17.0 Awards Tournament Awards Award Player Team MVP Template:Flagicon Willard Brown Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce Best manager Template:Flagicon Buster Clarkson Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce All Star Team Position Player Team First base Template:Flagicon Bert Haas Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Second base Template:Flagicon Jim Gilliam Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce Third base Template:Flagicon Lou Klein Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Shortstop Template:Flagicon Buster Clarkson Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce Left field Template:Flagicon Willard Brown Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce Center field Template:Flagicon Nat Peeples Template:Flagicon Chesterfield Smokers Right field Template:Flagicon Pedro Formental Template:Flagicon Leones del Habana Catcher Template:Flagicon Joe Montalvo Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce Pitcher Template:Flagicon Bobo Holloman Template:Flagicon Cangrejeros de Santurce See also 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)