The 1941 Amateur World Series was the fourth edition of the Amateur World Series (AWS), an international men's amateurbaseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation. The tournament took place, for the third consecutive time, in Cuba. It was contested by nine national teams playing eight games each from September 27 through October 22 at the Estadio La Tropical in Havana.[1]
Venezuela won its first major international baseball title, defeating defending champions Cuba in a tie-breaker championship game. The victory is cited as the catalyst for baseball's exploding popularity in Venezuela, and the championship team was hailed as "Los Héroes del '41" ("Heroes of '41").[2][3]
Participants and format
All teams participated in a single-match round-robin, resulting in eight games for each team. In case of a tie for best record at the end of the round-robin, a single playoff game would be held to determine the overall winner.
The tournament saw the return of all of the new members that had been invited to the 1940 edition, with the exception of Hawaii. Three new national teams were added: El Salvador, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. The appearance of the Panamanian and Dominican teams in particular raised the level of competition in the tournament, according to Roberto González Echevarría.[4]
With the departure of Hawaii, the Amateur World Series would consist exclusively of national teams from the Americas going forward, until Italy and the Netherlands were added for the 1970 edition.
Tournament summary
Tony Ordeñana led the tournament in runs
The Cuban national team, which had won the last two tournament, was anchored by a strong pitching staff that was the best of the amateur circuit.[4] Several of these players would go on to professional careers with Major League Baseball, including Rogelio Martínez (who went 2-0 in the tournament with a 0.00 ERA) and Julio Moreno (1-1, 1.29 ERA), who both played with the Washington Senators in the early 1950s.[5][6] The ace of the staff was Conrado Marrero, who went 3-0 during round-robin play with a very effective 0.46 ERA, though he would suffer the loss in the playoff game. Cuba's batters included Bernardo Cuervo, who hit .400 and led the tournament with 10 runs batted in; Andrés Fleitas (.378), the brother of Senators shortstop Ángel Fleitas; Napoleón Reyes, hitting .343; Clemente González (.395), whop had the most hits in the tournament with 17; and Tony Ordeñana (.256), who led the tournament with 14 runs scored, and would also go on to play a single major league game with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1943.[7] The team was managed by Joaquín Viego, of the Hershey club.[4]
The "Heroes of '41"
The Venezuelan team was largely made up of veterans who had played in the previous series: chief among them Héctor Benítez, who collected at least one hit in each of his nine games and led the series with three triples; José Pérez Colmenares, who drove in five runs and scored 11 times in the nine contests,
and Daniel Canónico, who went 4–0 with a 1.69 ERA as the most dominant pitcher in the series. José Antonio Casanova earned the Most Valuable Player award for the tournament. Other players included outfielder Chucho Ramos (a future Cincinnati Red), Dalmiro Finol, who would hit both the first home run in Venezuelan professional baseball (1946) and the first in Caribbean Series history (1949), and Julio Bracho. Most of the players would go on to successful careers in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.
Another unexpectedly strong team was Mexico, piloted by Chile Gómez. Mexico's Victor Manuel Canales, who would go on to play for several years in the minor leagues, hit five doubles to lead the tournament. Guillermo Prieto led the tournament in average, going 12-for-22 at the plate and hitting .545, the highest imark to that point in Amateur World Series history.[8][9] The Dominican team was managed by the legendary Burrulote Rodriguez and included José St. Claire. Panama's León Kellman hit the only home run of the series and would go on to a career in the Negro leagues and Mexican League, while Pat Scantlebury pitched for the team and would go on to have a long Negro leagues career as well as a short stint with the Cincinnati Reds.[citation needed]
Cuba and Venezuela finished the tournament with identical 7–1 records; Cuba's only defeat was to Venezuela, while Venezuela's only defeat was to the Dominican Republic. Though the Venezuelan federation was reportedly satisfied with being crowned co-champions with Cuba, Cuban organizers pushed for a playoff game, allowing Venezuela's squad an extra few days rest for their ace Canonico.[4] In the tie-breaking championship game on October 22, Canonico went up against Marrero. Venezuela quickly scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, and Marrero was relieved by "Natilla" Jiménez. Canonico pitched a scoreless game until the top of the ninth, but the late Cuban rally was not enough to prevent Venezuela from winning the title.[4][9]
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