1895: The earliest images known in the history of Venezuelan baseball

On August 15th, 1895, Mariano Domingo Becerra makes a contribution for the magazine El Cojo Ilustrado in Caracas, Venezuela. He wanted to publicize the recent foundation of the Caracas club that was practicing a game, that even though had been played since 1892 in Venezuela, it was about to take new life in the country: the game of base ball.

El Cojo Ilustrado was a literary magazine published twice a month, and was a modernist icon in Latin America. Baseball could not be ignored in it, since it was a trend that the game was covered in publications devoted to literature and poetry during the 19th century, as was the case in Cuba.

This magazine prints in August, 1895, the earliest images known in the history of Venezuelan baseball which are of a notorious technical quality. El Cojo Ilustrado had a legendary team of photographers who were likely sent in assignment to register the action of the game.

The photographer from El Cojo accomplishes an extraordinary image. In his intention to capture the essence of the sport, requires the players to pose an action of the game. The defensive team is deployed all over the field, while the batting players remain crowded enough to be captured by the lens beside of the action scene.

The pitcher, in an elegant figure, hides the ball in both hands behind his back, while the batter holds firmly his hand to the grip of the bat mimicking the action of starting his swing. The Umpire, without losing in elegance, wears a hat in perfect match with the color of his trousers, and is placed in an excellent location, almost resting his chin on the shoulder of the pitcher to have the best perspective and the most precise judgement. The fielders, behind his pitcher, are all ready, with their hands on their knees to react quickly.

Everything would seem a perfect action image, except for the catcher who, even in his position, is far from waiting the ball since he has the mask on his hand, totally unaware of the game and looking handsomely to the camera.

Actually, is a simulated action posing for the photographer of El Cojo Ilustrado, and the objective has been accomplished. With the exception of the distracted catcher, all the players of the pioneer Caracas Base Ball Club have been portrayed ellegantly.

Next, in another image, the ballplayers pose as a complete baseball club. Twenty players, uniformed in a dark color and the legend Caracas embroidered in the chest. The uniforms look home made, and it is likely that each member has received the assignment of producing them, since the typography and size of the legend Caracas is the less uniform in the uniform, and one of the players, standing at the far right, has decided to rebel to the uniformity sewing the letter S inversely. He plays for Caracaz and is wearing a light colored tie contrasting with the dark color of the jersey, and possibly converting himself in the only baseball player with tie in the history of the game. Proud of his joke, he stands in a protagonic pose with a sarcastic smile, without knowing that the image would survive for the perpetuity of Venezuelan baseball.

In addition to the images, Mariano Domingo Becerra, one of the most visible leaders of the Caracas Base Ball Club has drafted a great description on how to play baseball, and he even takes the time to draw a very precise and detailed diagram of the baseball field to include it with the text and the images of the team. For the first time, he incorporates a collection of baseball anglicisms to the Venezuelan lexicon.

Becerra was a perfect connossieur of the game since his student years. He had studied with his brother Ricardo, at Georgetown College, in Washington in 1884 and 1885, and it is very likely that it was then the moment that he learns the game and flourishes, in him, the seed of Venezuelan baseball.