Luis García Beltrán (September 11, 1929 – January 9, 2014) was a Venezuelan professional baseball player and manager. Listed at 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 189 lb (86 kg), he batted and threw right handed.
At an early age García was dubbed Camaleón by his family, and he carried this nickname throughout his professional career, which spanned 22 years.
He was born in Carúpano, located in the eastern coastal area of Sucre state in Venezuela. Despite his short, stocky build, he was a gifted athlete, enabling him to become the natural leader in pickup games and later in school. He was also a dependable third baseman and, he had the ability to hit the ball to all fields, regardless of size or capacity. Owner of a strong throwing arm, he had good range, being able to catch fly balls from his left field and infield teammates.
García played in the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators Minor League systems, but never appeared in a major league game for either club. His career was largely associated with the Navegantes del Magallanes club of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, but he also had a distinguished career in the Mexican League in a span of ten seasons.
A member of four Hall of Fame organizations, García amassed more than 3000 hits, appeared in eight Caribbean Series, was the first player to reach 1,000 hits in Venezuelan baseball, and also set several records in the VPBL that still remain intact.
Contents
Professional career
Minor Leagues
García became a professional as a 19-year-old in 1949, while playing for the Senators Class D team in Concord, North Carolina. He collected 92 hits in 381 at-bats for a .241 batting average in 109 games, including 12 doubles, four triples, and one home run. At the end of the season he began a long career in his native Venezuela, but also kept playing in the minor leagues for the next six years.
From 1950 to 1951, García played with the Potros de Tijuana of the independent Sunset League, compiling for them batting averages of .265 and .273 respectively.
In 1952, García joined the Aberdeen Pheasants, a Northern League affiliate of the St. Louis Browns organization. He appeared in 126 games for Aberdeen, batting .288 (125–for-469) with 219 total bases for a .467 slugging percentage, to finish sixth in total bases and eight both in hits and home runs (15).
This season also marked the professional debut of Hank Aaron, who hit .336 (116-for-345) with nine homers and amassed 170 total bases in 87 games for the Eau Claire Bears.
García opened 1953 with the Tampa Smokers of the Florida International League, appearing for them in 81 games before being traded to the Chicago White Sox. He was promoted to the Charleston Senators of the American Association, the Triple A team in the White Sox minors system. García hit .279 and 13 home runs in 155 games for both teams, but his road to the Major Leagues was long and winding.
Discouraged for a time, García persevered, playing two solid but unspectacular seasons for the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League, by then a Triple A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. From 1954 to 1955 he was a regular at third base for the Sugar Kings, sharing infield duties with first basemen Julio Bécquer and Nino Escalera; second basemen Pompeyo Davalillo, Danny Morejón and Don Nicholas, and shortstop Johnny Lipon, all of them with major league experience. García posted a slash line (BA/OBP/SLG) of .222/.281/.572 with four home runs and 47 RBI in his first season, and hit .253/.365/.380 with 12 homers and 53 RBI the next year.
After that, García accepted a more attractive offer to play in the Mexican League in 1956. During the winter, he continued to play regularly in the Venezuelan League.
Mexican baseball
The 1956 summer season brought García to the Mexican League, where he played through 1965 for the Leones de Yucatán, Petroleros de Poza Rica and Aguilas de Veracruz.
In a 10-season career he posted a .322 average with 171 home runs and 759 RBI in 1,124 games, while collecting 1,346 hits and a .507 slugging percentage, establishing himself as one of the most prolific hitters in Mexican baseball history.
García batted over .300 in seven consecutive years from 1957 to 1963, averaging .334 in this period with a career-high .364 in 1958. His most fruitful season came in the 1964 campaign with Veracruz, when he hit a solid .299 and registered career numbers in home runs (29), RBI (108), runs (81) and total bases (251).
As third baseman/manager for Poza Rica, García led all players at his position in fielding percentage in 1958 and 1961, and managed the team to an 84–62 record in 1959 to win the Mexican League pennant. In addition, he twice hit three home runs in a single game and was a seven-time All-Star.
García played later for the Porteños de Nuevo México of the Mexican Southeast League in 1966. It was his last season held outside of Venezuela.
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
Following his minor league debut with the Concord Nationals, the 19-year-old Camaleón García would play in 12 of his 22 professional seasons with the Navegantes del Magallanes.
García joined Magallanes during the 1949–1950 VPBL season in a game against the Cervecería Caracas club. Nervous in his first appearance, due to the historic rivalry between the two teams, he had to face Alejandro Carrasquel; a 37-year-old veteran and former Washington Senators pitcher, as well as the first Venezuelan player to wear a major league uniform. The young García went 2-for-4 against Carrasquel and recorded an RBI in the 5–2 victory over Caracas, quickly gaining the trust of Magallanes manager Lázaro Salazar, who gave him a place in the starting lineup as everyday third baseman. Then, on November 29, 1949, Camaleón began a long string of consecutive games played that would extend over the next four years.
Even though he batted just .247 in 41 games as a rookie, García collected 39 hits in 138 at-bat appearances, including 10 doubles and two home runs, while driving in 22 runs and scoring 28 more. He earned VPBL Rookie of the Year honors in his first season, while Magallanes won its first pennant in the league and represented Venezuela in the 1950 Caribbean Series. García batted .211 in the Series, being the only Magallanes player to either hit a home run or steal a base in the tournament.
In 1950–1951 García enjoyed a good season at the plate, hitting .292 with nine doubles, three triples and five homers in 53 games. He also had 27 RBI and scored 32 runs, while slugging .491 and leading Magallanes to its second straight pennant. He went 5-for-20 in the 1951 Caribbean Series, including five runs and four RBI, and hit a solo home run to prevent a shutout by Cuban pitcher Bill Ayers in Game 6 of the series.
Notably, García faced though pitching in the early going with the likes of Babe Birrer, José Bracho, Dick Starr, Sandy Ullrich, Roy Welmaker and Lenny Yochim, for name a few. Nevertheless, he delivered rewarding results in the years to come, earning respect as a dangerous hitter with runners in scoring position, particularly during the late innings.
García improved further in 1951–1952, when he batted .336 with three homers, 20 doubles and 40 RBI, while topping the league with 87 hits and 120 total bases, being surpassed only by Caracas' Wilmer Fields in average (.348), RBI (45) and doubles (22). Nearly the end of the season, he set a league's all-time record for the most at bats in an extra-inning game with nine at-bat appearances. This record would be matched by Eric Anthony in 1992 and Oscar Salazar in 1999. He later played as a reinforcement for the Cervecería Caracas champion team in the 1952 Caribbean Series, but Camaleón had a disappointing performance that time, going hitless in 13 at bats in six Series games.
Batting statistics
Some statistics are incomplete because there are no records available at the time of the request. Nevertheless, Camaleón García collected more than 3,100 hits along the way in the many baseball circuits he played, not including VPBL postseason games and Caribbean Series appearances.
Later years
Following his retirement, García enjoyed spending time with his family and eventually going to the ballparks, where he shared countless anecdotes with broadcasters, journalists, and baseball people. He also collaborated with the Criollitos de Venezuela, a local little league corporation that operates not only as a baseball academy but as a means of integral formation of children and adolescents through sport.
Three times, he has been considered on the Veterans Committee of the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. García was on the ballot in 2005, 2007 and 2009, always garnering enough votes to remain on the ballot, but never coming close to election.
His first public recognition came in 2000, when he received the honor of induction into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame for his notable contribution in the Caribbean Series.
In 2003, he was honored by the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as part of their first class.
After that he was inducted into the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame through the Veterans Committee in 2011. In addition, a baseball park in the City of Caracas is named after him.
Then, in 2012 he became an inaugural inductee into the Navegantes del Magallanes Hall of Fame; while his uniform number 21 was retired by the franchise.
Besides this, in 2012 García and fellow and countryman Luis Aparicio were honored prior to a Caracas–Magallanes game at Estadio José Bernardo Pérez. After the ceremony, both Venezuela legends threw out the ceremonial first ball.
García died in Caracas, Venezuela in 2014, at the age of 84, after suffering a cerebrovascular disease.