Enrique Fonseca

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is León and the second or maternal family name is Fonseca.
Enrique Fonseca
Catcher
Born: (1918-09-18)September 18, 1918
Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela
Died: December 10, 2020(2020-12-10) (aged 102)
Guarenas, Miranda, Venezuela
Member of the Venezuelan
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction2006 (as part of 1941 AWS team)
Medals
Men's Baseball
Representing  Venezuela
Amateur World Series
1941 Havana Team
1944 Caracas Team
1945 Caracas Team
1942 Havana Team

Moisés Enrique León Fonseca[1] (September 18, 1918 — December 10, 2020) was a Venezuelan baseball player. Nicknamed "Conejo" ("Rabbit"), he played with the Venezuela national baseball team, as well as several seasons with Cervecería Caracas / Leones del Caracas in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP).

Career

Fonseca, along with Luis Romero Petit, debuted with the Escogido club of the Zulian amateur circuit in 1936, in a game against Centauros.[2] Though his paternal last name was León, he elected to go by Fonseca, as he felt it sounded "more Zuliano."[3]

He played third base and outfield for various teams in his native Maracaibo, until he took over the catcher position with the Puma team, with which he won several titles as batting champion. "Conejo" Fonseca also played with Centauros and with Gavilanes de Maracaibo, competing in the Zulia championships until 1940.[3] In 1941, he played with the Vencedor club from Valencia, Carabobo, and later played with Vargas club in the Caracas first division baseball championship.[3]

Fonseca was named one of the two catchers, along with Guillermo Vento for the Venezuelan national team that would play at the 1941 Amateur World Series in Havana.[4][5] He finished the pre-selection games as the batting champion and best catcher, was among the first selected for the national team.[3] Fonseca served as the backstop for Daniel Canónico, catching all five of "Chino"'s victories in the tournament.[4][6] That included the tie-breaking championship game against heavily-favored Cuba, which saw Fonseca and Canonico face-off against the battery of Conrado Marrero and Andres Fleitas.[7] Venezuela won the game in upset fashion to earn its first world championship. Fonseca and the rest of the Venezuelan team were feted in their native country as the "Heroes of '41" (Heroes del '41).[4][3]

He appeared in two more championship squads for Venezuela, in the 1944 and 1945 Amateur World Series. In the 1945 series, he was among the best hitters in the tournament, with a .395 batting average.[4][8]

"Conejo" Fonseca was the starting catcher for Cervecería Caracas from 1943 to 1950.[3] Along with Vidal López. Luis Zuloaga, and José Antonio Casanova, he was one of the players who contributed to the club's first pennant victory in 1943.[9] After the first division circuit went professional in 1946, he hit his only LVBP home run in the first professional game between Caracas and Magallanes on January 24, 1946, a four-run shot that secured the team's 7-6 victory.[10][3] He also appeared in exhibition tournaments against Negro league baseball all-stars (the Serie Monumental) as well as against the New York Yankees.[4] Conejo Fonseca was part of the Cervecería squad, composed entirely of Venezuelans, at the inaugural 1949 Caribbean Series.[4]

Fonseca retired from professional baseball in 1953.[3] Over his professional career, he batted .210, appeared in 183 regular-season games in seven seasons with Caracas.[4]

After his playing career, he worked as a school teacher and bus driver.[1] At the time of his death, he was the last living member of the 1941 Amateur World Series team.[1][4][3]

Sources

  1. ^ a b c "Se fue el último de los "Héroes"". Prodavinci. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  2. ^ González, Javier; Figueroa Ruiz, Carlos (October 2022). Campos de gloria: El béisbol en Venezuela, 127 años de historia 1895-2022 (PDF) (in Spanish). Banesco. p. 302. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Conejo Fonseca: El único sobreviviente de los héroes del 41". LVBP. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Falleció el último héroe del 41". Lider en Deportes. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  5. ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), p. 350
  6. ^ "El "Conejo" Fonseca, un héroe con 102 años de vida beisbolística". El Universal. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  7. ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), p. 363
  8. ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), p. 386
  9. ^ "Cervecería asciende a primera división". Camara de Caracas. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  10. ^ González and Figueroa Ruiz (2022), p. 414
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