The Sabios de Vargas baseball club became 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. The team represented the city of La Guaira, Vargas and played its home games at the now-extinct Estadio Cerveza Caracas.

Team history

The VPBL opening game was realized on January 12, 1946. Besides Vargas, the circuit included the Cervecería Caracas,

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 Patriotas de Venezuela teams, which resulted in a revised schedule of 30 games in which each team played its three opponents 10 times apiece. During the first season, the games were played on Thursdays and Saturdays on the afternoons, and Sundays in the morning. When the ballpark was fitted with electric lights, a game was added on Tuesday nights. In 1946 Vargas was co-managed by

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 ...

Daniel Canónico and

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Roy Campanella Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor lea ...

, both of whom led the team to the title with an 18–12 record. Notably, pitcher

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 ...

hurled in 25 of the 30 games, including 25 starts, and posted a 12–8 record with 139 strikeouts and a 2.68

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in 181⅔ innings of work. Welmaker led the league in victories, strikeouts and ERA to win easily the Triple crown. The league divided the 1946–47 season in two parts, while the number of games in the schedule was increased to 36. The final Championship Series faced first-half winner Vargas against Cervecería, second-half champ, in a best-of-five series. Vargas defeated Cervecería, 3 to 1, to become the first team to win consecutive titles in the league. Vargas finished second in 1947–48, but retired during the 1948–49 season due to economical problems. Eventually, the team continued to play for the next four seasons but never was able to recover its initial prestige, before finally folding at the end of the 1952–53 season. They changed their name to the Santa Marta BBC in 1954.

Yearly team records

Players of note

* Bob Alexander * Luis Aparicio, Sr. * Carlos Ascanio * Frank Austin * Frank Baldwin *

Sam Bankhead Samuel Howard Bankhead (September 18, 1910 – July 24, 1976) was an American baseball player in the Negro leagues. He played from 1931 to 1951. He also played for the Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo along with Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. In 1951 ...

* Clarence Beers *

Frank Biscan Frank Stephen Biscan (March 13, 1920 – May 22, 1959) was an American professional baseball player, a left-handed pitcher who appeared in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Browns in parts of three seasons (1942; 1946; 1948). Nicknamed "Pork ...

* Daniel Canónico *

Bill Cash Sir William Nigel Paul Cash (born 10 May 1940) is a British politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1984. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected for Stafford and then for Stone in Staffordshire in 1997. ...

* Walt Chipple * Larry Ciaffone * Al Cihocki *

Claude Corbitt Claude Elliott Corbitt (July 21, 1915 – May 1, 1978) was an American professional baseball player, an infielder who appeared in 215 Major League games over four seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1945) and the Cincinnati Reds (1946; 1948– ...

Emilio Cueche Emilio Cueche h-mee'-leo / coo-eh'-chay/small> (October 20, 1927 – July 31, 2006) was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He was nicknamed ″Indio″. (Spanish) Born in Barcelona, Anzoátegui, the righthander Cueche was one of the mos ...

* Clem Dreisewerd * Jim Dyck * Howard Easterling * Robert Elliott * Jonas Gaines *

Ford Garrison Robert Ford Garrison (August 29, 1915 – June 6, 2001), nicknamed "Rocky" and "Snapper", was an American professional baseball player and coach. An outfielder, the native of Greenville, South Carolina, threw and batted right-handed, stood tall ...

* Tom Glover *

Sam Hairston Samuel Harding Hairston (January 20, 1920 – October 31, 1997) was a Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball player. He played for the Birmingham Black Barons and the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro leagues and played part of one season ...

Hal Hudson Hal Campbell Hudson (May 4, 1927 – July 8, 2016) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, he worked in six Major League games, all in relief, for the St. Louis Browns (1952) and Chicago White Sox (1952–53). Huds ...

Sam Jethroe Samuel Jethroe, nicknamed "The Jet" (January 23, 1917 – June 16, 2001), was an American center fielder in Negro league and Major League Baseball. With the Cincinnati & Cleveland Buckeyes he won a pair of batting titles, hit .340 over seven seas ...

Walt Lanfranconi Walter Oswald Lanfranconi (November 9, 1916 – August 17, 1986) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. The 155 lb. right-hander played for the Chicago Cubs (1941) and Boston Braves (1947). His career was unusual in that he went almost six ye ...

* Les Layton * Lynn Lovenguth * Clyde McNeal *

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 ...

Don Newcombe Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher in Negro league and Major League Baseball who played for the Newark Eagles (1944–45), Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–1 ...

* Andrew Porter * William Ricks *

Harry Simpson Harry Leon "Suitcase" Simpson (November 30, 1924 – April 3, 1979) was an American outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, and Pitts ...

Hilton Smith Hilton Lee Smith (February 27, 1907 – November 18, 1983) was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He pitched alongside Satchel Paige for the Kansas City Monarchs between 1932 and 1948. He was inducted into the National B ...

* Tommy Warren *

Marvin Williams Marvin Gaye Williams Jr. (born June 19, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one season of college basketball for North Carolina before being drafted second overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2005 NBA draft. H ...

* Johnnie Wittig * John Wright *

Lenny Yochim Leonard Joseph Yochim (October 16, 1928 – May 11, 2013) was a professional baseball pitcher. He played in parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1951 and 1954, and later served in the organization for al ...

Sources

External links

BeisbolVenezolano.net – Sabios de VargasPuraPelota.com – Sabios de Vargas
* es.Wikipedia.org – Sabios del Vargas {{Venezuelan Professional Baseball League , state=collapsed 1946 establishments in Venezuela Defunct baseball teams in Venezuela Vargas (state) Baseball teams established in 1946