The Tiburones de La Guaira ( en, La Guaira Sharks) are a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team in the

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Early years Baseball exp ...

. Based in the city of La Guaira, they play their home games in Estadio Fórum La Guaira and have won seven national championships since their founding in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

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 José Antonio Casanova (February 18, 1918 – July 8, 1999) was a shortstop and manager in Venezuelan baseball. He batted and threw right handed. (Spanish) Born in Maracaibo, Zulia, Casanova is regarded as the most successful manager in Venezuela ...

, who was considered the greatest Venezuelan manager at the time. The new team changed its name to Tiburones de la Guaira. 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 The Caracas Base Ball Club C.A. or better known by its commercial name as the ''Leones del Caracas'', is a professional baseball team of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. In its creation, its headquarters are the University Stadium of C ...

and

Industriales de Valencia The Industriales de Valencia was a baseball club who played from 1955 through 1968 in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. The Industriales joined the league as a replacement for the Santa Marta BBC. The Industriales were based at 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 Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel (born April 29, 1934), nicknamed "Little Louie", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1956 to 1973 for three American League (AL) teams, m ...

and

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, 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 Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios (; born January 20, 1964) is a former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for 16 seasons, primarily with the Chicago White Sox, from 1985 to 2000. During tha ...

, 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.

Championship titles/Managers

*1964–1965:

*1965–1966: Tony Pacheco *1968–1969: Wilfredo Calviño *1970–1971: Graciano Ravelo *1982–1983: Oswaldo Virgil *1984–1985: Aurelio Monteagudo *1985–1986: José Martínez

Caribbean Series records

Team highlights

*1964–1965 : Darold Knowles won the pitching Triple Crown *2013–2014 :

Alex Cabrera Alexander Alberto Cabrera (born December 24, 1971) is a Venezuelan first baseman and right-handed batter who played in 2000 for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball and for 12 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. Also played sev ...

became the first batting Triple Crown winner in VPBL history

VPBL regular season leaders

Hitting

Batting average Home runs Runs batted in

Pitching

Wins * Tied with Lew Krausse Jr. (Caracas)
** Tied with Jim McGlothlin (Valencia)
*** Tied with Diego Seguí (Caracas) Earned run average Strikeouts

Current roster

https://www.lvbp.com/roster.php?team=698

Major League alumni

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* Elio Chacón *

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* Anthony Ortega *

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