Gavilanes de Maracaibo
Gavilanes de Maracaibo, or the Maracaibo Sparrowhawks, was a Venezuelan professional baseball team based in Maracaibo, Zulia. Founded in 1928 by Ernesto Aparicio and Luis Aparicio, Sr., the club played mainly in the western part of the country, in the Zulia Baseball League and later in the Liga Occidental de Béisbol Profesional (LOBP). Their colors were dark blue and white, and the team was nicknamed Los Muchachos (The Boys).
The Gavilanes were the most successful team in the Zulia league, winning 13 of 17 championships, eight of them with Ernesto Aparicio as manager. They had a strong rivalry with Pastora BBC. The Zulia league paused around 1940, resumed in 1946, but closed in 1952. After that, the western circuit became the LOBP and joined MLB-affiliated organized baseball from 1953 to 1964.
In 1953, the VPBL and the LOBP had a one-time National Championship Series called El Rotatorio, with Gavilanes representing the LOBP. Pastora won that year. The Gavilanes won back-to-back LOBP titles in 1955–56 and 1956–57. They returned as a replacement for Centauros de Maracaibo in the 1958–59 season and played their last season in 1959–60. The LOBP ended after the 1963–64 season, and no later Gavilanes teams competed in Venezuelan pro baseball. Notably, a 19-year-old Luis Aparicio, Jr. played for Gavilanes in the early 1950s and would later be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:14 (CET).