| Leones del Caracas | |||||
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| League | Venezuelan Professional Baseball League | ||||
| Location | Caracas, Venezuela | ||||
| Ballpark | Estadio Universitario | ||||
| Year Founded | 1942 | ||||
| League championships | 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1995, 2006, 2010 | ||||
| Caribbean World Series championships | 1982, 2006 | ||||
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The Leones del Caracas (English: Caracas Lions) 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. They have 20 championship titles, more than any other team to date in Venezuelan baseball.
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In 1942, Cervecería Princesa, an early team, was bought and transformed into Cervecería Caracas. Their first game, on May 7 against the Criollos (English: Creoles) ended with a 7-3 victory. The team faced its later nemesis, the Navegantes del Magallanes for the first time on December 27, 1942, winning this now historic game 3-0. Ten years later, the franchise was bought by the publicist and sport commentator Pablo Morales and christened anew as Leones del Caracas.
In 2001, the descendants of Pablo Morales and Oscar Prieto Ortiz (founders of the club in 1952) sold their shares to the Grupo Cisneros, giving it majority control of the team.
Estadio Universitario is a multi-use stadium in Caracas, Venezuela. The stadium holds 25,690 people and was built in 1952.
It´s part of the Central University of Venezuela, Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas,and was designed by architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva and it is considered a masterpiece of urban planning and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.
* As Cervecería Caracas
On February 9, 1981, the Leones earned Venezuela's third Caribbean World Series and the franchise's first, by defeating Puerto Rico's Leones del Escogido with a 3-1 score. The Leones ended the series with a record of 5 wins and 1 defeat. The Venezuelan team, with Alfonso Carrasquel at the helm, gained the championship title with a 5-1 record. Leones was led by catcher and Series MVP Baudilio Díaz (.412 BA, two home runs, five RBI, .500 OBP, .765 SLG), CF Tony Armas (.375, six RBI) and LF Luis Salazar (six runs, four stolen bases). The pitching staff was led by Luis Leal, who posted a 2-0 record with a 2.08 ERA and 10 strikeouts and a in 13.0 innings of work. Behind him were Bud Black (1-0, 1.29), Dennis Burtt (1-0, one save, seven SO in 10⅔ innings) and Tom Dixon (nine scoreless innings in Game 7). Venezuela also featured 2B Steve Sax, SS Ron Gardenhire, 1B Dave Garcia, 3B Leonardo Hernández, pinch-hitter Andrés Galarraga and pitcher Joe Cowley, among others.
On February 7, 2006, the Leones earned Venezuela's first Caribbean World Series title in 16 years, by defeating the Tigres del Licey of the Dominican Republic with a 5-4 score in the last game; this left the Leones with a record of six wins and no defeats at the 2006 Caribbean Series, ahead of Licey's four wins and two defeats record. With the victory, the Leones won Venezuela's sixth CWS title, and the franchise's second after the 1982 Caribbean Series. This also marked the first time a Venezuelan team sweeps the CWS, a feat previously accomplished only by teams from Cuba (Almendares in 1949 and 1959, La Habana in 1952, Marianao in 1957, and Cienfuegos in 1960), from Puerto Rico (Cangrejeros de Santurce in 1953 and 2000, and Senadores de San Juan in 1995) and from the Dominican Republic (Tigres del Licey in 1971 and 1977, and Águilas Cibaeñas in 1998).
| 1 Pompeyo Davalillo SS Retired |
2 Víctor Davalillo OF Retired |
6 Gonzalo Márquez 1B Retired |
8 Urbano Lugo P Retired |
11 Luis Aparicio SS Retired |
12 César Tovar IF Retired |
17 Alfonso "Chico" Carrasquel SS Retired |
20 Antonio Armas OF Retired |
25 Baudilio Diaz C Retired |
| 23 Omar Vizquel SS Retired 2008 |
41 Andrés Galarraga 1B Retired 2008 |
* Retired by VPBL
MLBplayer|35|Carlos Lezcano}} (bench)
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