Venezuelan Baseball

Artifact 1



Venezuelan National Team

 Venezuelan Baseball  

In most countries of the world, sports play a major role in shaping its culture.  That is certainly true in Venezuela, where there are professional leagues for baseball, fútbol (soccer), and basketball.  As well, individual sports such as tennis, paragliding in the Andes region, and horseback riding in the grass lands are popular. But the most popular sport of all, played by children and adults throughout the country is baseball.

Early game in Caracas

Because baseball originated in the United States toward the end of the 19^th Century, I was surprised to learn how quickly men began playing the game in Venezuela. In 1895, some students studying at American universities learned the game here and brought it back to show their friends.  They created The Caracas BBC, and splitting themselves into “The Red” and “The Blue” teams, played their first game on May 22, 1895.   Interestingly, that game was publicized in a newspaper named “El Tiempo,” but the reporter who wrote the article referred to the event as a “new kind of Chess game, the Base Bale.” (Landino, 2002)  It was only when photos appeared in a magazine several months later that the public came to understand “…this game of Base Ball provides health and strength to the body and happiness to the spirit.” (Landino, 2002)

  

During the ensuing years, many cities began to produce teams that seemed to come and go as the sport grew with clubs and participants.  Some of the teams during these early years of the 20^th Century had names like “Vargas,” Independencia,” “Los Samanes,” and “Magallanes (still a team today!).” (Landino, 2002)  The city of Maracaibo in the west of the country was an enthusiastic baseball town and by 1920, it had over 30 ball clubs and 10 stadiums!  Apparently the president of Venezuela, General Juan Vicente Gomez ordered the organization of the Maracay BBC “where he personally played as a pitcher, with his brothers and high government executives.” (Landino, 2002) 

Cardenales de Lara in 70's
from Barquisimeto, Venezuela

At this time there was no organization to arrange for formal competitions among all these teams.  Finally on January 15, 1930, a group called the Venezuelan Association of Baseball was formed to create professional tournaments and to promote and regulate the game.

Symbol for Caribbean Baseball Cup

Today the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League has eight teams divided into two divisions:  the Western and the Central-Eastern Divisions.  They play in the South American Winter League.  The championship is a Round Robin, consisting of two leading teams in each division, plus one wild card team; each team plays 16 games, and the winner earns the right to play in the Caribbean Series against teams from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Mexico. (Landino, 2002).

According to the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Álvarez, “Baseball is the center of our modern culture.  It’s part of our life.  It expresses the synthesis of modern Venezuela.” (Ortiz, 2007)  Others have stated that it is “more than a pastime, it is an integral part of the nation’s identity. (Ortiz, 2007)  Clearly, this American sport has been totally integrated into the Spanish culture of Venezuela, along with the cultures of several Spanish-speaking nations south of the United States.  Even President Hugo Chávez had hoped to play baseball in the military leagues as a left-handed pitcher. (Game Theory, 2011) 

President Hugo Chavez
swinging a bat.

I have been amazed to learn just how enthusiastic Venezuelans are about baseball.  In the US, baseball has largely been eclipsed in the public’s eye by other sports, especially football.  Weekends and now even weekdays feature games both professional and collegiate.  There is even an NBC program called Football Night in America, intimating this is what American culture is about!  What began in the 19^th Century with great enthusiasm here has been absorbed fully into Venezuelan life, becoming completely endemic to its culture during the past 118 years.

I have also learned that Luis Aparicio (whom I mentioned in an earlier article) not only  had been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, but that his city of Maracaibo “…considered [him] the greatest idol and legend of Venezuelan Baseball…”El Grande de Maracaibo.”(Landino, 2002)  I had no idea that “little Luis,” the shortstop I loved so much as a kid, was such a celebrated hero in his own country.

 

Reference List 

Baseball in Venezuela: Not-so-sweet home. (2011, November 11).  Game Theory

     [Web log].  Retrieved September 27, 2012 from      http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2011/11/baseball-venezuela.

Landino, L. A. (2002).  History of baseball in Venezuela.  Retrieved September 17, 2012       from  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall02/landino.

Ortiz, M. B. (2007, November 18). Politics makes toxic mix with MLB’s investment in Venezuela.  Retrieved September 28, 2012 from http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3077371&type=story.