Latin American Baseball History

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Venezuelan Baseball Baseball is a popular sport in many parts of the world, particularly in USA and Asia. America's pastime, baseball, has also been in Latin America since the end of 1800. Whether for Latino students in the US who carried a bat and glove on his return back home or workers in sugar plants when they had a break and took advantage of playing baseball, the Latin love for baseball is rich in history and adversity. Professional teams have existed in Latin America since the 1860s in Cuba. In Venezuela, baseball history begins in the 1890s, a time when arriving in the country some Venezuelan students from universities in the United States, who brought bats, gloves and balls for playing sports with friends. Then in the 20th century,…show more content…
The Yankees had scored three runs at the opening of the fourth inning and won 6-3 Senators. Carrasquel, who then became the first player from Venezuela to participate in a major league game, came with the difficult task of facing straight to Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey with three runners on base. The 'Paton (Big Foot)' as he was known, dominated DiMaggio with rolling his own hands, then he struck out Gehrig and finally got rid of Dickey with high grounds to second base that took Buddy Myer. The right-hander needed just five pitches to get that input and make history. He would end his eight-year career with a positive balance of triumphs and setbacks of 50-39. The July 10, 1951, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit (later Tiger Stadium), Alfonso Carrasquel became the first Latin American player in participating in an All-Star. During 10 years in the majors he distinguished as one of the best defensive shortstops in the 50s of last century, to the point of string together a chain of 297 sets no errors in 1951, then to overcome the previous record of Phil Rizzuto, set at 288. Following the retirement of the 'Chico' Carrasquel they have been many Venezuelans who have excelled in baseball, as Vic Davalillo, Cesar Tovar, Manny Trillo, Baudilio 'Bo' Diaz, Luis Salazar, Ozzie Guillen, Wilson Alvarez, Luis Sojo, Carlos Guillen, Felix Garcia and Francisco 'Kid' Rodriguez, all of them also paved the way for today's stars such as Carlos Gonzalez (Rockies) and Pablo Sandoval (Giants), to name a
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