Luis Romero Petit (April 11, 1917 – June 29, 2017) was a
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
n
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Moder ...
player. He batted and threw right handed.Gutiérrez, Daniel; Alvarez, Efraim; Gutiérrez (h), Daniel (2006). ''La Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela''. LVBP, Caracas. Luis Romero Petit - LVBP batting statistics ''Pelota Binaria''. Retrieved on January 10, 2019.
Career
A diminutive
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...
and
leadoff hitter
In baseball, a leadoff hitter is a batter who bats first in the batting order (baseball), lineup. It can also refer to any batter who bats first in any inning.
Strategy
Traditionally, the leadoff hitter has been utilized as a contact-oriented ...
, Romero was a beloved and important part of the
Venezuela national baseball team
The Venezuela national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Venezuela'' or ''Selección de Venezuela)'' is the national team of Venezuela. It is currently ranked third in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, b ...
Caracas
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
in 1939, where he played for four clubs in seven National Series tournaments spanning 1939–1945.
During the 1941 season, Petit was scouted and selected for the Venezuelan team that eventually won the Baseball World Cup held in
Havana, Cuba
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.defeating the highly favored Cuban squad in a tie-breaker game while placing Venezuela for the very first time among the world baseball elite.
Romero returned to BWC competition as a member of the Venezuelan team for the next four years, helping the team win two consecutive titles in 1944 and 1945, while leading the 1945 Tournament with nine
stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...
s.
Afterwards, Romero became one of the 77 original founding players of the
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (, or LVBP) is the top-level professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year.
History Background and predecessors
Baseball had been play ...
in 1946. At this time Romero anchored third base for the
Cervecería Caracas
The Caracas Base Ball Club C.A., better known by its commercial name as the Leones del Caracas, is a professional baseball team of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVPB). The owner and sole shareholder of the sports club is Ricardo C ...
Patriotas de Venezuela The Patriotas de Venezuela baseball club was a founding member of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League in its inaugural season of 1946.
Team history
The Patriotas, based in Caracas, played its home games at the now-extinct Estadio Cerveza Ca ...
and Licoreros de Pampero for the next five seasons, working as a part-time infielder and outfielder before retiring in 1957. His most productive season came in 1947, when he hit a career-high .317 and topped the league with 12 stolen bases.
Overall, Romero posted a career batting average of .234 in 366 games, scoring 181 runs and driving in 72 more while stealing 39 bases. In between, he made three appearances in the
Caribbean Series
The Caribbean Series ( Spanish: ''Serie del Caribe'') is an annual club tournament contested by professional baseball teams in Latin America. It is organized by the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation. The series is normally played in ...
(1949; 1953–1954).
Romero, along with his former teammates of the 1941 Baseball World Champion team, received their long overdue recognition when the
Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The Salón de la Fama y Museo del Béisbol Venezolano (in English, the ''Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum'') is a nonprofit institution operated by private interests, which was founded on April 18, 2002, thanks to the vision of Carlos ...
enshrined the entire team in its 2006 class.Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum – 2006 inductees (Spanish). Museo del Béisbol de Venezuela website. Retrieved on December 29, 2012.
Romero died in Caracas in 2017, just two and a half months after his 100th birthday. As the time of his death, he was recognized as the oldest living former player of the legendary 1941 team.