1976 Caribbean Series

1976 baseball tournament The nineteenth edition of the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was played in 1976. It was held from February 4 through February 9 with the champions teams from the Dominican Republic, Águilas Cibaeñas; Mexico, Naranjeros de Hermosillo; Puerto Rico, Vaqueros de Bayamón and Venezuela, Tigres de Aragua. The format consisted of 12 games, each team facing the other teams twice, and was played in Dominican Republic. For the first time in Series history, the games were played at two different venues, the Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo and the Estadio Cibao in Santiago de los Caballeros. Summary The Naranjeros de Hermosillo gave Mexico its first Caribbean Series championship title. Managed by legendary Cananea Reyes, the team outscored their opponents 36 to 18 over the six-day tournament in Dominican Republic, winning five consecutive games to pull an upset in the opener and prevailing behind their fine pitching, which gave up just 16 earned runs in 57 innings (2.53). Rich Hinton (seven-hit shutout) and George Brunet (1-0, 1.50) each turned fine performances, while 1B Héctor Espino, OF Jerry Hairston, 3B Celerino Sánchez and 2B Bump Wills paced the hitting attack. Also in the roster were C Sergio Robles, SS Eddie Leon, OFs Arnoldo de Hoyos and Chet Lemon, and Ps Ed Acosta, Francisco Barrios and Vicente Romo. Espino was named the Most Valuable Player, while the team had six players in the All-Star team. Managed by Ozzie Virgil, the Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan league won its first two games, but they went 1-3 the rest of the way and had to settle for second place. Four hitters carried much of the offensive weight: CF Enos Cabell (.400, best average in the Series; seven RBI), RF Terry Whitfield (.375, eight runs, five RBI), 3B Manny Trillo (.333) and 2B Duane Kuiper (.320). Their best pitcher was Mark Wiley, who posted a 2-0 record and a 2.04 ERA, while Manny Sarmiento (1-0, one save) and Aurelio Monteagudo did the job out of the bullpen. The team also featured 1B Tim Hosley, SS Dave Concepción, and Ps Bill Campbell, Roberto Muñoz and Willie Prall. The Dominican Republic team, with Tim Murtaugh at the helm, disappointed their home fans after going 2-4 to finish in third place. The Águilas Cibaeñas, who had won their second title in a row, usually put players on the bases but lacked the necessary clutch hitting to bring them home. OFs Miguel Diloné and César Gerónimo provided good defense and speed on the bases, while 3B Winston Llenas and 1B/C Bill Nahorodny smashed the only home runs for the team. Besides this, their most effective starters in ERA had losing records: Rick Waits (0-1, 2.13) and Rick Langford (0-1, 3.00), while starter Jerry Augustine (6.00 ERA) and reliever Kent Tekulve (11.59 ERA) delivered the only wins for Dominican Republic. Other members of the team included Ps Tom Dettore, Nino Espinosa and Juan Jiménez; C Ed Ott, 2B Bob Sheldon, SS Frank Taveras, OF Morris Nettles, and DH Manny Mota. The favored reigning champion, Vaqueros de Bayamón, tied for third with a 2-4 record. One victory came from Juan Pizarro, who hurled a three-hit shutout in Game 7. The Puerto Rico team, piloted by José Pagán, scored the fewest runs (23) and committed the most errors (15) in the Series. Inexplicably, the anemic Boricua offense combined for a paltry .246 average, even though the team had a solid lineup that included 1B Dan Driessen, Of Ken Griffey, Sr., 3B Art Howe, SS Iván de Jesús, C Ellie Rodríguez and the outfield brothers, Héctor and José Cruz among others. Final standings Club W L W/L % GB Manager 25px Mexico 5 1   .833   –   Cananea Reyes 25px Venezuela 3 3   .500   2 Ozzie Virgil 25px Dominican Republic 2 4   .333   3 Tim Murtaugh 25px Puerto Rico 2 4   .333   3 José Pagán Individual leadersPlayer/Club Statistic Enos Cabell / VEN Batting average .400 Arnoldo de Hoyos / MEX Terry Whitfield / VEN Runs scored     8 Enos Cabell / VEN Hits   10 Duane Kuiper / VEN Doubles     3 Manny Mota / DOM Triples     3 Héctor Cruz / PUR Héctor Espino / MEX Winston Llenas / DOM Bill Nahorodny / DOM Terry Whitfield / VEN Home runs     1 Enos Cabell / VENHéctor Espino / MEX Runs batted in     7 Dave Concepción / VEN Stolen bases     2 Mark Wiley / VEN Wins     2 Rich Hinton / MEX Juan Pizarro / PUR ERA 0.00 Mark Wiley / VEN Strikeouts   13 Mark Wiley / VEN Innings pitched  17 2 3 Awards Héctor Espino / MEX Most Valuable Player Cananea Reyes / MEX Manager All-Star TeamName/Club Position Sergio Robles / MEX catcher Héctor Espino / MEX first baseman Bump Wills / MEX second baseman Celerino Sánchez / MEX third baseman Dave Concepción / VEN shortstop Miguel Diloné / DOM left fielder Arnoldo de Hoyos / MEX center fielder Terry Whitfield / VEN right fielder Manny Mota / DOM designated hitter Mark Wiley / VEN RH pitcher George Brunet / MEX LH pitcher Cananea Reyes / MEX manager Scoreboards Game 1, February 4 Venezuela VEN 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 7 12 2 Puerto Rico PUR 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3   9 3 Mark Wiley (1-0) Bob Reynolds (0-1) Manny Sarmiento (1) Game 2, February 4 Mexico MEX 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 9 1 Dominican Republic DOM 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 4 7 0 Kent Tekulve (1-0) Francisco Barrios (0-1) The Dominican Republic scored the winning run after Barrios issued a bases-loaded walk to Morris Nettlesin the bottom of the 10th inning. Game 3, February 5 Puerto Rico PUR 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 12 1 Mexico MEX 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 4 10 0 Tony Komadina (1-0) Bob Reynolds (0-2) Héctor Espino (1) Jerry Hairston drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 11th inning. Game 4, February 5 Dominican Republic DOM 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 4 1 0   9 13 1 Venezuela VEN 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 2 1 10 14 4 Manny Sarmiento (1-0) Juan Jiménez (0-1) Winston Llenas (1) Terry Whitfield (1) Game 5, February 6 Venezuela VEN 2 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 0   7 14 0 Mexico MEX 0 0 2 2 1 0 4 3 x 12 13 1 Ed Acosta (1-0) Aurelio Monteagudo (0-1) Celerino Sánchez (1) Game 6, February 6 Puerto Rico PUR 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 1 Dominican Republic DOM 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 4 6 3 Odell Jones (1-0) Rick Langford (0-1) Both pitchers hurled complete games. Game 7, February 7 Puerto Rico PUR 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 7 2 Venezuela VEN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 Juan Pizarro (1-0) Roberto Muñoz (0-1) Pizarro struck out eight and walked four, while allowing just three singles to Enos Cabell (2) and Manny Trillo. Game 8, February 7 Dominican Republic DOM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   7 1 Mexico MEX 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 x 4 11 1 Rich Hinton (1-0) Nino Espinosa (0-1) Hinton was dominant in his seven-hit shutout of the Dominicans. Game 9, February 8 Mexico MEX 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 7 11 1 Puerto Rico PUR 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3   9 1 Vicente Romo (1-0) Jerry Johnson (0-1) Game 10, February 8 Venezuela VEN 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 2 Dominican Republic DOM 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 4 Mark Wiley (2-0) Rick Waits (0-1) Wiley allowed only an earned run and struck out seven batters without giving a walk in his complete game. Game 11, February 9 Mexico MEX 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 6 11 0 Venezuela VEN 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1   6 2 George Brunet (1-0) Bill Campbell (0-1) Brunet struck out five and walked one over nine innings, while his only run allowed was unearnedand came in the fourth after he threw a wild pitch. Game 12, February 9 Dominican Republic DOM 1 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 12 1 Puerto Rico PUR 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 1 7 13 7 Jerry Augustine (1-0) Julio Navarro (0-1) Bill Nahorodny (1) Héctor Cruz (1) Sources Antero Núñez, José. Series del Caribe. Impresos Urbina, Caracas, Venezuela. Araujo Bojórquez, Alfonso. Series del Caribe: Narraciones y estadísticas, 1949-2001. Colegio de Bachilleres del Estado de Sinaloa, Mexico. Figueredo, Jorge S. Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878–1961. Macfarland & Co., United States. González Echevarría, Roberto. The Pride of Havana. Oxford University Express. Gutiérrez, Daniel. Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. External links Las Series del Caribe (Spanish) https://archive.today/20130411074613/http://site.lasemanadeportiva.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=189 La Semana Deportiva – Estadísticas de la Serie del Caribe 1975 el (Spanish) collapsed Caribbean Category:Caribbean Series Category:International baseball competitions hosted by the Dominican Republic Category:1976 in Dominican Republic sport Category:Sports competitions in Santo Domingo Category:20th century in Santo Domingo Caribbean Series