Manuel Antonio Malpica

Manuel Antonio Malpica (January 20, 1909 — June 6, 1970), nicknamed "El Pollo" ( "The Chicken"), was a Venezuelan baseball player, manager, executive, and physician. He is best known for skippering the Venezuela national baseball team that won the 1941 Amateur World Series.

Malpica's playing career started in the Venezuelan amateur league, where he played with the "Latinos de Valencia" team in 1926, before moving to the Magallanes club in Caracas in 1929. With Magallanes, he played in the first games against the Royal Criollos club, a series would eventually evolve into the rivalry between Magallanes and Caracas. On the Concordia club in 1933, he played alongside Martín Dihigo, Alejandro "Patón" Carrasquel, and Luis Aparicio "El Grande". Malpica went on to manage the Venezuela club to a championship in the 1941 first division.

As manager of the Venezuelan team at the 1941 Amateur World Series, held in Havana, Malpica won the country's first major international title, defeating heavily-favored Cuba in the tie-breaking championship game. Malpica assumed the role of team president in 1965, after Casanova left to manage the Tigres de Aragua.

Malpica, considered one of the first great Venezuelan catchers alongside Baudilio Díaz, Henry Blanco, and Salvador Pérez, is the namesake of the Manuel "Pollo" Malpica Award, which honors the best catcher in the Venezuelan winter league.