Cangrejeros de Santurce (baseball) - Creation and Early Years

Creation and Early Years

Pedrín Zorilla, an amateur baseball player and then executive in Shell Oil's branch in Puerto Rico, took the initiative to establish a baseball team at Santurce in the 1930s. A franchise was soon created and headquarters were located at Parada 20, Heriberto Ramírez de Arellano was responsible for its title, naming it after the Cangrejo Arriba and Cangrejo Abajo sectors of Condado and Loíza Street, where some players lived. Zorilla led a board composed of Ramírez de Arellano, Rafael Muñiz, Mike Pasarell, Héctor Nevares, Toño Palerm among others, which oversaw fund raising and operation. Panchicu Toste established contact with several local business, which promoted the team and managed ticket sales. The franchise received some opposition from the staff of the Senadores de San Juan, the municipality's main team at the moment. The first uniform of the Cangrejeros were bought blank, the numbers and names of the players were sewed for free by the mother of former general manager and sports writer Carlos Pieve, who was a baseball fanatic. Following these efforts, the Cangrejeros joined the Liga de Béisbol Semi-Profesional de Puerto Rico for the 1939-40 season, one year after its foundation and sharing Estadio del Escambrón with the Senadores de San Juan. The team's lineup included Agustín Daviu, the first Puerto Rican to play organized baseball in the United States and Luis Raúl Cabrera, both from Ponce. The rest of the local starters were Oscar Mangual, Ramón Concepción, Guillermo Angulo and Fellito Concepción. The league's rules allowed the inclusion of three foreign reinforcements, Zorilla contracted Billy Byrd. Josh Gibson and Dick Seay to fill these spaces. Seay served as player-manager in the early part of this season, leaving the office to Gibson once he arrived until he abandoned the team to play in Venezuela before the season was over. The Cangrejeros made their debut on October 1, 1939, trading victories with Aguadilla in a double-header.

Another double-header was played against San Juan in October, with both teams trading victories as well. The rivalry between the Cangrejeros and Senadores became known as the "City Championship", a term coined by Zorilla as a publicity stunt, with San Juan winning the first banner of this match-up. However, the team suffered an 23-0 loss to Guayama in November, which marked the worst defeat by any Santurce-based team in 60 years. Consequently, the Cangrejeros were called a "soft ball team" by the media, a pattern that continued throughout its early years. The Cangrejeros finished the season's first half in the sixth place, tying Aguadilla fourth during the second half. The team concluded its first season by defeating San Juan in two consecutive games, forcing the Senadores to play more games to secure the pennant. The team's home stadium was renamed Estadio Sixto Escobar after Sixto Escobar, Puerto Rico's first boxing champion. After an average first season, Cabrera soon became the Cangrejero's franchise player, conserving this status throughout the 1940s. In 1940-41, the Cangrejeros improved their performance. With the loss of Gibson, the team had signed Efraín Merced, Georgie Calderón, Raymond Brown and obtained Pedro Jaime Reyes in a trade for Concepción. The team had a weak start, trading victories in a double-header against San Juan before finishing last during the first half of the season, drastically improving to win the second half and earn a spot in the championship series. This was the first time that the Cangrejeros won the "City Championship" banner, winning all games against San Juan during the second half. The team finished this half with a record of 11 wins and 3 losses, gaining victories over the Grises de Humacao, Caguas, Mayaguez and Guayama. In the championship series, the Cangrejeros were matched against the Criollos de Caguas, losing in seven games. Cabrera won the LBSPR's Most Valuable Player Award. In 1941-42, the Cangrejeros lost several close games, being unable to match Ponce, the team that won both halves led by Francisco Coimbre. Gibson rejoined the team, hitting .480 to win the MVP award. The Marín Rum Company became the team's first sponsor, which earned the team a nickname, "Santurce-Marín" during the early 1940s.