Baseball in Venezuela
Encyclopedia
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional is the highest level baseball league in Venezuela.-Brief history:Baseball exploded in Venezuela in 1941, following the world championship in Havana....
(VPBL) is a winter league that was established in 1945, with Leones del Caracas
Leones del Caracas
The Leones del Caracas is a Venezuelan baseball team that plays in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. Since its inception, the team has played in the Estadio Universitario in Caracas...
the leading team; another leading club is Valencia's Navegantes del Magallanes
Navegantes del Magallanes
The Navegantes del Magallanes are a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. Based in Valencia, the Navegantes have won ten LVBP championships and two Caribbean World Series.-Pitchers:...
, established in 1917. There is a Venezuelan Summer League
Venezuelan Summer League
The Venezuelan Summer League is a minor league baseball rookie league which operates in Carabobo and Aragua states, Venezuela.The VSL was created in 1997, after several operational years of the Major League Baseball's academies in the country...
established in 1997 and composed of teams affiliated with Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
(MLB) clubs. The Liga paralela
Liga paralela
Liga Paralela de Béisbol en Venezuela is a competition that runs parallel to the big competition in the winter period. This competition is the AA and AAA of the Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional; here is where you can see playing some big leaguers after the MLB competition is done...
is a secondary Venezuelan winter league, with the teams acting as farm team
Farm team
In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team or nursery club, is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher level at a given point...
s for VPBL clubs.
Venezuelan teams have won the Caribbean Series a number of times. The Venezuela national baseball team
Venezuela national baseball team
The Venezuela national baseball team is the national team of Venezuela. They are currently ranked seventh in the world by the International Baseball Federation.-World Baseball Classic:...
won the Baseball World Cup several times in the 1940s, and the baseball tournament at the Pan American Games
Baseball at the Pan American Games
The baseball tournament at the Pan American Games has long been considered to be one of the premier international baseball events in the world, even higher than the Olympic Games. This is because the level of competition is higher than in the Olympics, where only two teams from the Americas...
in 1959. The team finished 7th in the inaugural
2006 World Baseball Classic
---------Pool B:-------------Pool C:-------------Pool D:-------------Pool 1:-----------------Pool 2:-------------Finals:-Semifinals:-Final:-Final standings:...
World Baseball Classic
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and created by Major League Baseball , the Major League Baseball Players Association , and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world...
and 3rd in the 2009 event
2009 World Baseball Classic
The 2009 World Baseball Classic was an international baseball competition. It is the only international baseball tournament to feature a large number of players from the major leagues of North America and Asia. It began on March 5, 2009, and finished March 23, 2009.Japan emerged victorious for the...
.
Over 200 Venezuelans have played in Major League Baseball since 1939. The Luis Aparicio Award
Luis Aparicio Award
The Luis Aparicio Award is given annually to honor the Venezuelan player who recorded the best individual performance in Major League Baseball, as voted on by sports journalists in Venezuela....
was established in 2004, in honor of Luis Aparicio
Luis Aparicio
Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel is a former shortstop in professional baseball. His career in Major League Baseball spanned three decades, from through . Aparicio played for the Chicago White Sox , Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
, the only Venezuelan ballplayer to have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
in Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
. The award is given annually to honor the Venezuelan player who recorded the best individual performance in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, as voted on by sports journalists in Venezuela.
Six MLB teams maintained training academies in Venezuela in 2010, down from 21 in 2002. Possible reasons for the decline include strained relations between the U.S. and Venezuela and the increasingly ubiquitous presence of MLB teams in the country creating more competition for talent there.
In November, 2011, Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
catcher Wilson Ramos
Wilson Ramos
Wilson Abraham Ramos is a Major League Baseball catcher for the Washington Nationals. He is 6' tall, weighs 221 lbs., and throws and bats right-handed. He signed with the Minnesota Twins as a non-drafted free agent on July 7, ....
was kidnapped while home to play for his Venezuelan winter league team, Tigres de Aragua
Tigres de Aragua
The Tigres de Aragua are a baseball team that plays in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.Founded in 1965, they play at the Estadio José Perez Colmenares in Maracay...
. Two days later he was rescued unharmed by police commandos in the mountains of Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
state and at that time and subsequently, eight were arrested in connection with the kidnapping. Ramos expected to return to join the team on the field soon, feeling "reborn" as he put it.