Luis Romero Petit (April 11, 1917 – June 29, 2017) 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 ...

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player. He batted and threw right handed.Gutiérrez, Daniel; Alvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez (h), Daniel (2006). ''La Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela''. LVBP, Caracas. Luis Romero Petit - LVBP batting statistics
''Pelota Binaria''. Retrieved on January 10, 2019.

Career

A diminutive

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

leadoff hitter In baseball, a leadoff hitter is a batter who bats first in the lineup. It can also refer to any batter who bats first in any inning. Strategy Traditionally, the leadoff hitter has been utilized as a contact-oriented position. The leadoff hit ...

, Romero was a beloved and important part of the

Venezuela national baseball team The Venezuela national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Venezuela'') is the national team of Venezuela. It is currently ranked sixth in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, directly behind the US and ahead ...

which captured the Baseball World Cup Tournament in 1941. Born in Maracaibo, Zulia, Romero grew up playing baseball in his hometown before moving to

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

in 1939, where he played for four clubs in seven National Series tournaments spanning 1939–1945. During the 1941 season, Petit was scouted and selected for the Venezuelan team that eventually won the Baseball World Cup held in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, by defeating the highly favored Cuban squad in a tie-breaker game while placing Venezuela for the very first time among the world baseball elite. Romero returned to BWC competition as a member of the Venezuelan team for the next four years, helping the team win two consecutive titles in 1944 and 1945, while leading the 1945 Tournament with nine

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s. Afterwards, Romero became one of the 77 original founding players of the

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Early years Baseball exp ...

in 1946. At this time Romero anchored third base for the

Cervecería Caracas The Caracas Base Ball Club C.A. or better known by its commercial name as the ''Leones del Caracas'', is a professional baseball team of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. In its creation, its headquarters are the University Stadium of C ...

club during seven seasons, then joined the

Lácteos de Pastora There have been four different professional baseball clubs in Venezuela that have played under the name Pastora. These teams have been established in the northwest of the country, particularly in the states of Zulia and Acarigua, and have played in ...

Patriotas de Venezuela The Patriotas de Venezuela baseball club was a founding member of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League in its inaugural season of 1946. Team history The Patriotas, based in Caracas, played its home games at the now-extinct Estadio Cerveza ...

and

Licoreros de Pampero The Licoreros de Pampero was a baseball club who played from 1955 through 1962 in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. The team joined the league as a replacement for the Patriotas de Venezuela and played its home games at the Estadio Univ ...

for the next five seasons, working as a part-time infielder and outfielder before retiring in 1957. His most productive season came in 1947, when he hit a career-high .317 and topped the league with 12 stolen bases. Overall, Romero posted a career batting average of .234 in 366 games, scoring 181 runs and driving in 72 more while stealing 39 bases. In between, he made three appearances in the

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 ...

(1949; 1953–1954). Romero, along with his former teammates of the 1941 Baseball World Champion team, received their long overdue recognition when the

Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The Salón de la Fama y Museo del Béisbol Venezolano (in English, the ''Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum'') is a nonprofit institution operated by private interests, which was founded on April 18, 2002, thanks to the vision of Carlos ...

enshrined the entire team in its 2006 class.Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum – 2006 inductees
(Spanish). Museo del Béisbol de Venezuela website. Retrieved on December 29, 2012. Romero died in Caracas in 2017, just two and a half months after his 100th birthday. As the time of his death, he was recognized as the oldest living former player of the legendary 1941 team.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romero Petit, Luis 1917 births 2017 deaths Baseball third basemen Cervecería Caracas players Lácteos de Pastora players Licoreros de Pampero players Minor league baseball players Patriotas de Venezuela players Sabios de Vargas players Baseball players from Caracas Baseball players from Maracaibo Venezuelan baseball players Venezuelan centenarians Venezuelan sportspeople Men centenarians