José Antonio Casanova
| José Antonio Casanova | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Shortstop / Manager | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born: February 18, 1918 Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died: July 8, 1999 (aged 81) Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As manager
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the Venezuelan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Induction | 2003 (individual) 2006 (as part of 1941 AWS team) 2015 (as part of 1959 PanAm team) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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José Antonio Casanova (February 18, 1918 – July 8, 1999) was a Venezuelan baseball shortstop, manager, and executive. He batted and threw right handed.[1]
Casanova is regarded as the most successful manager in Venezuelan baseball history. A five-time championship manager, he enjoyed a fruitful managing career in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP), winning four titles with the Cervecería Caracas / Leones del Caracas (1948, 1949, 1951) and Tiburones de la Guaira (1964).[1] Overall, he posted a 436–402 record for a .520 winning percentage.[2]
Casanova also played on and managed the Venezuela national baseball team, leading the country to several international titles in a career that spanned more than three decades.[1]
Career
[edit]Born in Maracaibo, Zulia, Casanova started his professional career in unaffiliated Venezuelan first division league, playing for the Centauros, Vencedor, Cardenales and Cervecería clubs.[3] Casanova debuted with Centauros, representing Maracaibo, in 1935 at the age of 17.[4] Playing with the Venezuela club under manager Manuel Malpica, he won the first division championship 1941, along with fellow Zulianos Luis Romero Petit and Guillermo Vento.[5] Casanova also played in an exhibition series against the touring Cuban Stars of Negro league baseball in February 1941.[6]
Casanova played for the Venezuela national baseball team that captured the 1941 Amateur World Series championship in Havana. In the championship game against Cuba, he was part of the three run rally for Venezuela, hitting a ground ball that was mishandled to score Chucho Ramos.[7] Casanova's throw to Dalmiro Finol at second base was the final out to secure the world title.[8] He was awarded the honor of Most Valuable Player at the tournament.
Casanova was part of the Cervecería Princesa club, based in Maiquetía, when it relocated to the capital and took the name Cervecería Caracas (the team that would become the present-day Leones del Caracas.[9][10] He managed Cervecería to a title in 1943.[3] In 1945, Casanova managed the Venezuelan All-Stars in the Serie Monumental, a series played against visiting Negro leaguers such as Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella.[11]
As player-manager of Cervecería Caracas, Casanova was an inaugural manager of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (along with Daniel Canónico, Juan Antonio Yanes, and Manuel Capote) when it played its first professional season in 1946.[12][3]
He guided the Venezuelan team that clinched championships in the Baseball World Cup in 1944 and 1945,[1] as well as the team that won gold medal at the 1959 Pan American Games held in Chicago.[1] After his playing career ended, he served as manager for the Venezuelan Military Academy team during 29 years.[citation needed]
Casanova bought the franchise rights to the moribund Licoreros de Pampero of the LVBP in 1962, for the symbolic price of one bolívar. Though he considered reviving the Santa Marta club, he ultimately founded the Tiburones de La Guaira team.[13] He was one of the team's first managers, leading the team to a championship in 1965. Casanova left after the championship season, after several disagreements with the executive board, and went on to manage the Tigres de Aragua.[14]
Legacy
[edit]In 2003, José Antonio Casanova was enshrined into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as part of their first class. He was inducted as well in the Hall in 2006, when the entire 1941 AWS Champion Team was honored. Then, in 2015 he earned a third induction when the 1959 PanAm Games Champion Team was enshrined.[1] A baseball park in Caracas, the Estadio José Antonio Casanova, is named after him.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g "Salón de la Fama del Béisbol de Venezuela". Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. (Spanish)
- ^ Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela
- ^ a b c Gutiérrez F., Daniel; Álvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez G., Daniel. Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela (2006). Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional. ISBN 980-6996-02-X
- ^ González, Javier; Figueroa Ruiz, Carlos (October 2022). Campos de gloria: El béisbol en Venezuela, 127 años de historia 1895-2022 (PDF) (in Spanish). Banesco. p. 300. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
- ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), 276
- ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), 349
- ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), 362
- ^ "El Béisbol en Venezuela: Los héroes del '41 (y II Parte)". La Gran Aldea (in Spanish). 24 July 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
- ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), 373
- ^ "El Equipo". Leones.com. Leones del Caracas. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
- ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), 388
- ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), 407
- ^ González, Javier; Figueroa Ruiz, Carlos (October 2019). Tiburones Tenaces: Centenario de Pedro Padrón Panza, 60 Victorias Memorables (PDF). pp. 51–70. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2019), 77