1980 Caribbean Series

The XXIII edition of the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was played in 1980. It was held from February 2 through February 7 with the champions teams from Dominican Republic (Tigres del Licey), Mexico (Naranjeros de Hermosillo), Puerto Rico (Vaqueros de Bayamón) and Venezuela (Leones del Caracas). The format consisted of 12 games, each team facing the other teams twice. The games were played at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo, D.R., which boosted capacity to 14.000 seats, and the first pitch was thrown by Antonio Guzmán, by then the President of Dominican Republic.

Dominican Republic won the tournament with a 4-2 record. The Licey club was guided by manager Del Crandall and led by center fielder and Series MVP Rudy Law, who was joined by fellows Leon Durham (1B), Jerry Dybzinski (SS), Dámaso García (2B), Dennis Lewallyn (P) and Teodoro Martínez (3B) on the Series All-Star team. The victories came from starters Dennis Lewallyn (1-0, five-hit, 10-inning shutout), Joaquín Andújar (1-0, 1.29 ERA, seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings), Gerry Hannahs (1-0, 0.00 in seven innings) and reliever Chuck Fore (1-0, 0.00 in four innings). In addition to pitchers Carlos Pérez and Mario Soto, also were in the roster RF Mickey Hatcher, C Mike Scioscia, and utilities Jesús Alou, Rico Carty, Miguel Diloné, César Gerónimo, Pedro Guerrero and Tony Peña. It was the fourth title both for the Dominican Republic and the Licey club.