1971 Caribbean Series

Fourteenth edition of the Caribbean Series baseball tournament The fourteenth edition of the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) baseball tournament was played in 1971. It was held from February 6 through February 11 with the champions teams from Dominican Republic, Tigres del Licey; Mexico, Naranjeros de Hermosillo; Puerto Rico, Cangrejeros de Santurce, and Venezuela, Tiburones de La Guaira. The format consisted of 12 games, each team facing the other teams twice, and the games were played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which boosted its capacity to 18,000 seats. The first pitch was thrown by Bowie Kuhn, by then the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Summary Dominican Republic captured the competition with an undefeated record of 6-0, behind a strong effort by manager Manny Mota, who also led the Series hitters with a .579 batting average (11-for-19) and won Most Valuable Player honors. The pitching support came from Chris Zachary (2-0), Reggie Cleveland (1-0), and reliever Pedro Borbón (1-0, two saves). Other key players for Licey included Jim Beauchamp, Carmen Fanzone, César Gerónimo, Elvio Jiménez and Rafael Robles. Puerto Rico, Mexico and Venezuela shared second place with a 2-4 record. Puerto Rico's team, managed by Frank Robinson, was a huge favorite to win the Series, thanks to a roster loaded with prominent players like Sandy Alomar Sr., Don Baylor, Elrod Hendricks, Reggie Jackson, Mike Kekich, Buck Martinez, Jerry Morales, Tony Pérez, Juan Pizarro, but the team faded just after the first half. For the first time, a representing team of Mexico took part in this tournament. Hermosillo was guided by Maury Wills and the offensive support came from Celerino Sánchez, who led the Series hitters in home runs (3) and RBI (9). Other noted players were Ed Acosta, Bobby Darwin, Héctor Espino, Francisco Estrada, Jim Ray, Sergio Robles, Vicente Romo and Zoilo Versalles. Graciano Ravelo managed the Venezuela club, which was clearly led by Pat Kelly (.381 BA, 2 HR, .714 slugging) and Ángel Bravo (7-for-21, .333 BA), while Leo Cárdenas hit .409 (9-for-22) for an otherwise weak offense, bottomed out by Ed Spiezio (3-for-19, .158 BA), José Cardenal (4-for-22, .182 BA) and Enzo Hernández (6-for-23, .264). George Lauzerique (1-0, 1.64 ERA, 7 SO) was a high point in a pitching rotation headed by Larry Gura (0-1, 4.00), Steve Barber (0-2, 5.56) and Aurelio Monteagudo (0-1, 9.58). Orlando Peña (1-0, 3.00 ERA) provided a solid support in three relief appearances. Final standings Club W L W/L % GB Dominican Republic Dominican Republic 6 0 1.000   – Puerto Rico 1952 Puerto Rico 2 4   .333 4.0 Mexico Mexico 2 4   .333 4.0 Venezuela 1954 Venezuela 2 4   .333 4.0 Individual leadersPlayer/Club Statistic Manny Mota/DOM Batting average .579 Celerino Sánchez/MEX Home runs     3 Celerino Sánchez/MEX Runs batted in     9 Teodoro Martínez/DOM Runs     9 Manny Mota/DOM Hits   11 Pat Kelly/VEN Doubles     2 Sandy Alomar Sr./PRI Triples     2 Tony Pérez/PRI Stolen bases     2 Chris Zachary/DOM Wins     2 George Lauzerique/VEN Strikeouts     7 Chris Zachary/DOM Earned run average 0.56 Chris Zachary/DOM Innings pitched   16 Pedro Borbón/DOM Chi-Chi Olivo/DOM Saves     2 Awards Manny Mota/DOM Most Valuable Player Manny Mota/DOM Manager All-Star TeamName/Club Position Sergio Robles/MEX catcher Jim Beauchamp/DOM first baseman Teodoro Martínez/DOM second baseman Celerino Sánchez/MEX third baseman Milton Ramírez/PRI shortstop José Herrera/VEN left fielder Manny Mota/DOM center fielder Pat Kelly/VEN right fielder Chris Zachary/DOM Pitcher Manny Mota/DOM manager Scoreboards Game 1, February 6 Dominican Republic DOM 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 5 12 0 Venezuela VEN 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 4   9 1 Pedro Borbón (1-0) Steve Barber (0-1) Don Shaw (1) Rafael Robles (1), Freddie Velázquez (1) Pat Kelly (1), Ed Spiezio (1) Game 2, February 6 Puerto Rico PRI 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 13 3 Mexico MEX 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 4 10 0 Bob Chlupsa (1-0) Gary Ross (0-1) Buck Martinez (1) Celerino Sánchez (1), Zoilo Versalles 2 (2) Game 3, February 7 Dominican Republic DOM 0 0 1 1 1 4 0 1 0 8 10 1 Mexico MEX 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 6 11 1 Reggie Cleveland (1-0) Alfredo Ortiz (0-1) Román Colón (1) Celerino Sánchez (2) Game 4, February 7 Venezuela VEN 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 6 9 2 Puerto Rico PRI 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 5 9 1 Orlando Peña (1-0) William de Jesús (0-1) José Herrera (1) Reggie Jackson (1) Game 5, February 8 Venezuela VEN 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 5 9 2 Mexico MEX 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 1 George Lauzerique (1-0) José Peña (0-1) José Cardenal (1), Pat Kelly (2) Game 6, February 8 Puerto Rico PRI 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 9 1 Dominican Republic DOM 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 X 5 9 4 Harry Parker (1-0) Joe Decker (0-1) Chi-Chi Olivo (1) Game 7, February 9 Venezuela VEN 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 11 2 Dominican Republic DOM 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 X 4   7 2 Chi-Chi Olivo (1-0) Larry Gura (0-1) Pedro Borbón (1) Game 8, February 9 Mexico MEX 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 7 10 2 Puerto Rico PRI 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 5   9 1 Manuel Lugo (1-0) Rubén Gómez (0-1) Gary Ross (1) Celerino Sánchez (3) Game 9, February 10 Mexico MEX 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   2 2 Dominican Republic DOM 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 X 5 10 0 Chris Zachary (1-0) Maximino León (0-1) Game 10, February 10 Puerto Rico PRI 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 11 0 Venezuela VEN 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2   8 0 Mike Kekich (1-0) Steve Barber (0-2) Roger Moret (1) Game 11, February 11 Mexico MEX 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 7 13 2 Venezuela VEN 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2   6 0 Jim Ray (1-0) Aurelio Monteagudo (0-1) Game 12, February 11 Dominican Republic DOM 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 6 15 2 Puerto Rico PRI 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 4   4 0 Chris Zachary (2-0) Dave Leonhard (0-1) Chi-Chi Olivo (2) Arsenio Rodríguez (1), Elrod Hendricks (1) See also Ballplayers who have played in the Series 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) collapsed Caribbean Category:Caribbean Series Category:International baseball competitions hosted by Puerto Rico Category:Baseball competitions in San Juan, Puerto Rico Category:20th century in San Juan, Puerto Rico Category:1971 in Puerto Rican sports Caribbean Series