Francisco José Cróquer
| Francisco José Cróquer | |
|---|---|
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| Born | May 23, 1920 Turmero, Aragua, Venezuela |
| Died | December 18, 1955 (aged 35) Barranquilla, Colombia |
| Occupation | Sportscaster, racing driver |
| Years active | 1938–1955 |
| Awards | Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum induction (2005) |
Francisco José Cróquer [crocker] (May 23, 1920 – December 18, 1955) was a Venezuelan sportscaster specialized in baseball and boxing. He was popularly known as Pancho Pepe Cróquer.
The first high point for Venezuela in international baseball came in 1941, when its national team captured the 1941 Amateur World Series tournament against host country Cuba, which gripped the attention of the nation. After that, baseball's position as the national sport in Venezuela was consolidated, and it has never been seriously challenged since then. The professional game in Venezuela was established in 1945, when a group of four club owners created the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League and joined organized baseball.
Since the emergence of radio-broadcast baseball in the country, Venezuela’s love and fascination with the sport was increased by the play-by-play announcers who described and interpreted the resulting action with their own conversational style and knowledge of the game. From the outset, Cróquer showed the most recognizable voice in Venezuelan baseball, thanks largely to his clear baritone voice and a friendly style combined with a high knowledge of the game, but always with an enviable capability to narrate a story in the form of a novel and showing a great mastery of the Spanish language. As a result, his listeners undoubtedly and proudly dubbed him, simply, Pancho Pepe, and it took a little longer than that for him to build a solid fanbase and reach national legend status.
Born in Turmero, Aragua, Cróquer was the son of Cirilo and Francisca (nee Páez) Cróquer. He studied at José Rafael Revenga elementary school in his native Turmero, and later graduated from high school at Liceo Maracay. At an early age he became interested in road bicycle racing, while also wearing the uniform of a local baseball team, but it was in auto racing where he was known for his passion and courage as a real sportsman.
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