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Tiburones de La Guaira
Tiburones de La Guaira
Information
League	Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
Location	Macuto, La Guaira
Ballpark	Estadio Jorge Luis García Carneiro; Estadio Universitario
Founded	1962
Caribbean Series championships	1 (2024)
League championships	8 (1964-65, 1965-66, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1985-86, 2023–24)
Current uniforms
Home	Away

The Tiburones de La Guaira (English: La Guaira Sharks) are a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP). Though they nominally represent La Guaira (playing at the Estadio Jorge Luis García Carneiro), they also play home games at the Estadio Universitario in nearby Caracas.^[1] Tiburones have won eight national championships since their founding in 1962, most recently in 2024.

History

In 1962 the Licoreros de Pampero team, which was founded in 1955, was sold for the symbolic price of one Bolívar by his owner Alejandro Hernández to José Antonio Casanova, who was considered the greatest Venezuelan manager at the time. The new team changed its name to Tiburones de la Guaira.^[2]

Casanova, who was also the first manager of the team, did not have enough financial resources to go through an entire season. He then talked to his friend, Dr. Jesús Morales Valarino, who suggested an alliance with an important group of personalities and traders such as Manuel Malpica, Jose Antonio Diaz, Mario Gomez y Pablo Diaz. In that moment Tiburones de la Guaira was born, taking the field for first time ever in the 1962–1963 season. It was Morales' idea to take the team to the city of La Guaira, in order to take advantage of a city with no team yet numerous baseball fans.

In their first season, the Tiburones finished with a 23–19 record, missing the finals disputed between the Leones del Caracas and Industriales de Valencia. The team struggled in 1963–1964, ending third with a 23–27 record, being locked out of contention. La Guaira club would have to wait until its third season to win the first league championship, in a five-game confrontation against the Leones.

La Guaira was managed by Casanova until that year, and had remarkable players such as MLB Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio and Rollie Fingers, and Ángel Bravo, José Herrera and Elio Chacón as top Venezuelan figures. Casanova's contract expired in 1965 and the board of directors decided to finish the work relationship buying all his stock. Then Pedro Padrón Panza, who was among the original founders, bought all the stock to become the single owner.

At the time, Padrón worked hard to settle an important base of players which was later known as "La Guerrilla", because –no matter the score of a game– they were a never-surrender bunch of players who gave all to the cause. Some notable names includes the likes of Ozzie Guillén, Carlos Martinez, Gustavo Polidor, Luis Salazar and Luis Mercedes Sánchez, among others.

Padrón suffered a long illness starting in the early 1990s, which affected the level of his beloved team as well. He died in 1999, aged 78, leaving the control of the franchise to his son, Pedro Padrón Briñez, also known as "Peruchito". Nevertheless, Padrón Jr. and his son died in the 1999 Vargas tragedy that killed tens of thousands of people.

Marked by the death of three generations –past, present and future– of the team, the Tiburones tried to repeat their glorious performances of the 1970s and 1980s in the 2000–2001 season under manager and former player Luis Salazar, almost clinching a playoff spot. Since then, the Tiburones has become a competitive force again in the Venezuela league, missing the final series by taking a loss in an extra game in the 2008–2009 season against the Tigres de Aragua, and reaching the final series in 2011–2012, which they end up losing again to Aragua in six games.

Tiburones won the title in 2023—24 over Cardenales de Lara. At the 2024 Caribbean Series, Tiburones pitcher Ángel Padrón threw a nine-inning no-hitter against Nicaragua's Gigantes de Rivas, the first no-hitter in the tournament since 1952 (which was thrown against Venezuela).

Championship titles/managers

1964–1965: José Antonio Casanova
1965–1966: Tony Pacheco
1968–1969: Wilfredo Calviño
1970–1971: Graciano Ravelo
1982–1983: Oswaldo Virgil
1984–1985: Aurelio Monteagudo
1985–1986: José Martínez
2023-2024: Ozzie Guillén

Caribbean Series records

Year	Venue	Finish	Wins	Losses	Win%	Manager
1971	San Juan	2nd place^[a]	2	4	.333	Graciano Ravelo
1983	Caracas	2nd place	4	2	.667	Osvaldo Virgil
1985	Mazatlán	3rd place^[b]	2	4	.333	Aurelio Monteagudo
1986	Maracaibo	2nd place	3	3	.500	José Martínez
2024	Miami	1st place	7	1	.875	Ozzie Guillén
Total			18	12	.600

^ Tied with Naranjeros de Hermosillo and Cangrejeros de Santurce
^ Tied with Metropolitanos de San Juan

Team highlights

1964–1965 : Darold Knowles won the pitching Triple Crown
2013–2014 : Alex Cabrera became the first batting Triple Crown winner in LVBP history

LVBP regular season leaders

Hitting

Batting average

Season	Player	Total
1966–1967	Tony Curry	.309
1973–1974	Al Bumbry	.367
1974–1975	Al Bumbry	.354
1988–1989	Carlos Martínez	.331
1991–1992	Chad Curtis	.338
2011–2012	César Suárez	.349
2013–2014	Alex Cabrera	.391

Home runs

Season	Player	Total
1977–1978	Clint Hurdle	18
1982–1983	Darryl Strawberry	12
1995–1996	Carlos Martínez	7
2002–2003	Rob Stratton	10
2008–2009	Max Ramírez	15
2013–2014	Alex Cabrera	21

Runs batted in

Season	Player	Total
1962–1963	Dave Roberts	34
1965–1966	John Bateman	38
1981–1982	Gary Rajsich	48
1991–1992	Chad Curtis	37
1995–1996	Carlos Martínez	39
2000–2001	Chris Jones	48
2013–2014	Alex Cabrera	59

Pitching

Wins

Season	Player	Total
1964–1965	Darold Knowles *	13
1965–1966	Marcelino López	12
1966–1967	Gene Brabender **	13
1967–1968	Eddie Watt ***	12
1972–1973	Jim Rooker	13
1974–1975	Tom House	10
1979–1980	Odell Jones	11
2002–2003	Bill Pulsipher	6

* Tied with Lew Krausse Jr. (Caracas)
** Tied with Jim McGlothlin (Valencia)
*** Tied with Diego Seguí (Caracas)

Earned run average

Season	Player	Total
1962–1963	Dale Willis	2.03
1964–1965	Darold Knowles	2.37
1965–1966	Marcelino López	1.57
1969–1970	Mike Hedlund	0.75
1976–1977	Steve Luebber	2.59

Strikeouts

Season	Player	Total
1962–1963	George Brunet	89
1964–1965	Darold Knowles	155
1966–1967	Gene Brabender	147
1974–1975	Doug Bird	82
1979–1980	Odell Jones	103
1985–1986	Odell Jones	70
1998–1999	Lou Pote	67