| Tourney Name: | Serie Monumental |
| City: | Caracas and Maracaibo |
| Country: | Venezuela |
| Dates: | November 24, 1945 – January 1, 1946 |
| Num Teams: | 4 |
| Venues: | Estadio Olímpico de Maracaibo |
The Serie Monumental (English: Monumental Series) was an international club baseball tournament held in Venezuela in late 1945–46. It saw a team of all-stars from the American Negro leagues play their opposites in the Venezuelan League. The series, played only once, was the immediate precursor to the 1946–50 Interamerican Series (and is sometimes considered the first of those contests), and by extension, to the modern Caribbean Series.
Although the Major League Baseball color barrier had not yet been broken in 1945, the Negro league all-stars (dubbed the Estrellas Negras) included several future Hall of Famers, including Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella. The Americans first played several exhibition games in Caracas against the Cerveceria Caracas club (calling themselves the Criollo All-Stars), which included active major-leaguer Alex Carrasquel; and another team (the "Caribbean All-Stars", with an international roster).[1] The North American team finished with a 7–2 record, with Cerveceria/Criollos at 3–4–1 and the Caribbean All-Stars at 2–5–1.[2] The Negro leaguers then traveled to Maracaibo to play an all-star team from Zulia State, headlined by Luis Aparicio Sr.
The series came in the wake of Venezuela hosting the 1944 and 1945 Amateur World Series.[3] The tournament was a commercial success, and an impetus for the professionalization of the baseball in Venezuela; the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League opened its first season in early January 1946, with Venezuelan teams contracting several Black players from the tour.[4] Sabios de Vargas reportedly tried to hire Jackie Robinson, who hit .339 in the series with a home run and five RBIs, but either he or the Brooklyn Dodgers (who had recently signed him) declined.[5] [6]
Negro All-Stars (Spanish; Castilian: Estrellas Negras|links=no or Estrellas Norteamericanas, managed by Felton Snow)
Criollo All-Stars (Spanish; Castilian: Estrellas Criollanas|links=no, managed by José Antonio Casanova) Caribbean All-Stars (Spanish; Castilian: Estrellas del Caribe|links=no, managed by Chino Canónico) Zulia All-Stars (Spanish; Castilian: Estrellas Zulianas|links=no)Managed by Felton Snow of the Baltimore Elite Giants, the Negro All-Stars were composed of players from the Negro National League and Negro American League:
Manager: José Antonio Casanova†
Enrique Fonseca (C) Antonio Briñez (1B) Dalmiro Finol† (2B) Luis Romero Petit (3B) Eduardo Pérez (SS) Guillermo Vento (OF) Héctor Benítez† (OF) Félix Machado (OF) Alejandro Carrasquel† (P) Luis Zuloaga (P) Valentín Arévalo (P) Julio Bracho (P) Ramón Fernández (P)Source:
Manager: Daniel "Chino" Canónico
Cesar Núñez (C) Carlos Ascanio† (1B) Marvin Williams (2B)
Gil Garrido (3B) Frank Austin (SS) Venancio Osorio (OF) Francisco Contreras (OF)
Juan Delfino García (OF) Luis Oliveros (P) Domingo Barboza (P) Bill Jefferson (P) Andrés Alonso (P) Balbino Fuenmayor (P)Source:
The Zulia All-Stars were composed of Zulia-born players from both of the other Venezuelan teams, with the notable addition of Luis Aparicio Sr. The Zulia team also included Americans Bill Jefferson and Marvin Williams, who had traveled with the Negro All-Stars and played with the Caribbean team, and Panamanian Frank Austin.[7]