Luis Antonio Peñalver (born November 20, 1941- December 21, 2019) was a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

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. Listed at 5' 11" , 170 lb. , he batted and threw right handed.Baseball Reference – Minor League statistics
/ref> Born in

Cumaná Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in South ...

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, Peñalver proved to be a reliable and durable pitcher in a long career that spanned from 1960 through 1983, playing for several teams in different leagues across the United States, Mexico and Venezuela. Considered a workhorse who could pitch every year in different leagues, Peñalver relied on an array of breaking pitches and pinpoint control on his straight four-seam fastball. But Peñalver never tried to finesse batters, he did try to intimidate them by using a high leg kick during his windup that resembled Juan Marichal.Gutiérrez, Daniel; Alvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez (h), Daniel (2006). ''La Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela''. LVBP, Caracas. El año del pitcher
''Magallaneando''. Alfonso L. Tusa article. Retrieved on December 15, 2015. Overall, Peñalver posted a 237-212 record with a 3.35

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

in 964 pitching appearances through the length of his 23-year career.Purapelota.com Luis Peñalver VPBL Statistics
/ref>Liga Mexicana de Béisbol
/ref> Peñalver made a pretty good impression on

baseball scouts Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

at a young age, when he was undefeated in two starts to help lead the Venezuela national team to the 1959 Pan American Games Gold Medal. ''El Universal''. Retrieved on December 15, 2015. At age 18, Peñalver debuted with the

Indios de Oriente The Indios de Oriente was a baseball club which played from 1956 through 1964 in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. They played its home games at the Estadio Municipal de Puerto La Cruz in Anzoátegui, Venezuela. History The Indios de O ...

club of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League in the 1960–1961 season. He went 2-3 with a 3.98 ERA in 16 games (seven starts) and, despite being a teenager, finished as the team's third most used pitcher after future

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Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935October 2, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot" ( ...

(21 games) and the local idol Carrao Bracho (20). Afterwards, the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

signed Peñalver and assigned him to the

El Paso Sun Kings EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

in 1961. He went 14-8 with a 4.14 ERA, tying for second in the

Sophomore League The Sophomore League was a Class D (baseball), Class D level minor league baseball league that operated from 1958 in sports, 1958 through 1961 in sports, 1961. League franchises were located in New Mexico and Texas. The league evolved from the Sou ...

in wins, while batting .271 with one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 20 RBI as a pitcher and fourth outfielder. His most productive season in the minors came with the Class-A

Burlington Senators Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

in 1967, when he went 12-9 with a 2.37 ERA in a career-high 205

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. He also ranked among the top 10 pitchers in the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

, finishing third in innings and sixth in

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s (169), while tying for eight in wins. Subsequently, in 1968 Peñalver joined the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, a

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Double-A team, where he had a record of 5-10 and a 3.81 ERA. On May 26 of that season, he hurled a 3–0, seven-inning

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

in the first game of a doubleheader against the Memphis Blues. Furthermore, Peñalver struck out three batters, allowing Roy Foster to reach base twice on a

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ov ...

and an error, while helping himself with an RBI single. From 1973 to 1974 Peñalver pitched for the Double-A San Antonio Brewers, where he was converted into a closer. In his first season for them, he went 9-5 with a 1.78 ERA and 20 saves. In addition, he led the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

in saves and was named an All-Star

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

in the circuit. The next year, he finished with a 6-7 mark, six saves and a 3.56 ERA in 37 games, including four starts. Peñalver also spent parts of 10 seasons at Triple–A ball. Used mostly as a starter, he had a record of 79-74 with a 2.81 ERA for the

Sultanes de Monterrey The Sultanes de Monterrey ( en, Monterrey Sultans) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Monterrey, Mexico. They compete in the Northern Division. The team also joined the Mexican Pacific League for the 2019–20 season f ...

of the Mexican League in seven full seasons spanning 1969–1978. In between, Peñalver played winter ball in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League during his entire 23-year career. Beside the aforementioned Indios de Oriente, he also pitched for the Estrellas Orientales, Navegantes del Magallanes, Leones del Caracas,

Águilas del Zulia The Águilas del Zulia ( en, Zulia Eagles) is a Venezuelan professional baseball team based in Maracaibo which plays in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. History The team was founded in 1969 and debuted in the 1969–70 season. The fra ...

and Tigres de Aragua, collecting an overall record of 84-70 with a very solid 3.08 ERA in 384 games pitched. Additionally, he was member of the VPBL champion team in four

Caribbean Series The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...

, winning the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

tournaments with Magallanes and Caracas, respectively. Following his retirement, Peñalver joined the Leones del Caracas

coaching staff The coaching staff is a group of non-athletes tied to a sports team. A coaching staff can be existent at all levels of athletics. It is led by a head coach (known as a manager or senior coach in some sports) and consists of one or more assistant c ...

. Peñalver etched his name in the Venezuelan League records books by holding top ten spots in several pitching statistics. He is tied with Carrao Bracho in second place for the most seasons played (23), surpassed only by

Giovanni Carrara Giovanni Carrara Jiménez ar-rah'-ra(born March 4, 1968) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. Listed at 6' 2", 225 lb., Carrara batted and threw right-handed. He established himself as a valuable middle relief man in MLB, as w ...

(24). He also ranks second in innings () to Bracho (), third in wins (84) behind Bracho (109) and Diego Seguí (95), fourth in strikeouts (748), fifth in complete games (45), and eighth in relief games (225) for all pitchers with at least 500 innings of work. All of his spots still intact to the present day.Gutiérrez, Daniel; González, Javier (2006); ''Records de la Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional''. LVBP. In 2008, Peñalver gained induction in the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. He was inducted as well in the Hall in 2015, when the entire 1959 Pan American Games champion team was honored.

Pitching statistics (1960–1983)

Pitching statistics (1960–1983)

Sources

External links