The Patriotas de Venezuela baseball club was a founding member 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 its inaugural season of 1946.

Team history

The Patriotas, based in Caracas, played its home games at the now-extinct Estadio Cerveza Caracas, while appearing in nine seasons spanning 1946–1955. The team was also nicknamed the Criollos for a while. The VPBL opening game was realized on January 12, 1946. Besides Venezuela, the circuit included 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 ...

Navegantes del Magallanes The Navegantes del Magallanes ( Magellan Navigators), commonly known as Magallanes, are a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. Based in Valencia, Magallanes has won 13 LVBP championships and two (2) Caribbean Series. It w ...

, and

Sabios de Vargas The Sabios de Vargas baseball club became a founding member of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League in its inaugural season of 1946. The team represented the city of La Guaira, Vargas and played its home games at the now-extinct Estadio Cer ...

teams. The Patriotas were owned and established by

Juan Antonio Yanes Juan Antonio Yanes (June 24, 1902 – August 8, 1987) was an executive in Venezuelan Professional Baseball League who owned the Patriotas de Venezuela franchise. (Spanish) Born in Caracas, Yanes was dubbed ″Yanesito″ (a diminutive of his la ...

, one of the early pioneers of professional baseball in the country, who also managed his team in parts of two seasons. In addition, both Paul Richards, Eddie Popowski and Junior Thompson will manage the team at some point. Venezuela did not have a particularly good record with 162 wins and 228 losses during its stint in the league, and never had a winning season or made the playoffs. Nevertheless, it was a team that never lacked spirit, determination and hustle, gamely battling against their strongest rivals down to the final of each game. The Patriotas were out during the 1953-54 season due to economic issues. They reappeared in 1954-55, but folded at the end of the season. Following a change of ownership, the new owners renamed the franchise as the

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 ...

starting the 1955-56 season.

Yearly Team Records

Team highlights

*1946-47: Parnell Woods, champion bat with a .354

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

. *1947-48: Luke Easter, league leader with eight

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 ...

s. *1948-49:

Roy Welmaker Roy Horace Welmaker (December 6, 1913 – February 3, 1998), nicknamed "Snookie", was an American professional baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played from 1932 to 1953. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Welmaker served in the US Army du ...

, most strikeouts by a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

with 102. *1949-50: Santiago Ullrich,

Triple crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

pitching winner with eight wins, 59 strikeouts and a 2.74

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. Comp ...

. *1950-51: René González, league leader with 50

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

, while tying with Vargas'

Frank Mancuso Frank Octavius Mancuso (May 23, 1918 – August 4, 2007) was an American professional baseball player and, served as a Houston City Council member for 30 years after his sports career had ended. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball ...

for the most homers with 10. *1952-53:

Hank Schenz Henry Leonard Schenz (April 11, 1919 – May 12, 1988) was an American professional baseball player whose career lasted 14 seasons (1939–1942; 1946–1955), including all or parts of six years in Major League Baseball as a member of the Chicago ...

, champion bat with a .355 average. *1954-55: Harold Bevan, champion bat with a .350 average.

Other noted players

Red Adams Charles Dwight "Red" Adams (October 7, 1921 – January 18, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher, scout and pitching coach. The native of Parlier, California, pitched only briefly in Major League Baseball, but had a lengthy career a ...

Luis Aloma Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

Carlos Ascanio Carlos Ascanio (April 4, 1918 – February 27, 1998) was a baseball player for the New York Black Yankees of the Negro leagues. He played first base and was nicknamed "The Earthquake" due to his powerful swing. Ascanio was the only Venezuelan to ...

* Eddie Basinski * Don Buddin * Daniel Canónico * Ed Chandler * Lorenzo Davis *

Wilmer Fields Wilmer Leon Fields (August 2, 1922 – June 4, 2004) was an American baseball player who was a household name in the Negro leagues and other baseball circuits between the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Manassas, Virginia, Fields was a versatile two-w ...

Ben Flowers Bennett Flowers (June 15, 1927 – February 18, 2009) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for four teams between and . During his playing days, Flowers stood tall, weighed and batted and threw r ...

* Joe Frazier *

Russ Kerns Russell Eldon Kerns (November 10, 1920 – August 21, 2000) was an American Major League Baseball player who played in one game for the Detroit Tigers on August 18, . He went hitless in one at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is ...

Julián Ladera Julián Ladera (July 15, 1928 – September 14, 1973) was a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher. Listed at 5' 10" (1.82 m), 165 lb (65 kg), he batted and threw right-handed.Gutiérrez, Daniel; Alvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez (h), Dani ...

Red Lynn Japhet Monroe Lynn (December 27, 1913 – October 27, 1977) was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1939–40 and 1944. He would play for the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, and New York Giants (NL ...

* Pete Milne *

Mickey Owen Arnold Malcolm "Mickey" Owen (April 4, 1916 – July 13, 2005) was an American professional baseball player, coach and scout. He played as a catcher for 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between and for the St. Louis Cardinals, Brookly ...

* Al Papai * Roy Partlow *

Dave Pope David Pope (June 17, 1921 – August 28, 1999) was an American Negro league and Major League Baseball outfielder who played one inning for the Homestead Grays and for four seasons in MLB for the Cleveland Indians in 1952, and from 1954 to 1955. He ...

Saul Rogovin Saul Walter Rogovin (March 24, 1922 – January 23, 1995) was an American professional baseball player. Rogovin was a pitcher over parts of 8 seasons (1949–57), with the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Philadelphia ...

Luis Romero Petit Luis Romero Petit (April 11, 1917 – June 29, 2017) was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He batted and threw right handed.Gutiérrez, Daniel; Alvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez (h), Daniel (2006). ''La Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela''. ...

* Bob Smith * Gene Stephens *

Max Surkont Matthew Constantine Surkont (June 16, 1922 – October 8, 1986) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played from 1949 through 1957 in the Major Leagues. He played for the Chicago White Sox, Boston / Milwaukee Braves, Pittsburgh Pira ...

* George Susce * Bill Webb * Dewey Williams * José Zardón

Sources

* Gutiérrez, Daniel; Alvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez (h), Daniel (2006). ''La Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela''. LVBP, Caracas. * Gutiérrez, Daniel; González, Javier (1992). ''Numeritos del béisbol profesional venezolano (1946-1992)''. LVBP, Caracas.

External links

Meridiano.com – Historia de la Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional
(Spanish)
PuraPelota.com – Patriotas de Venezuela (1946 – 1952-53)PuraPelota.com – Patriotas de Venezuela (1954-55)
* es.Wikipedia.org – Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional * es.Wikipedia.org – Patriotas de Venezuela {{Venezuelan Professional Baseball League , state=collapsed
1946 establishments in Venezuela Sport in Caracas Defunct baseball teams in Venezuela Baseball teams established in 1946