Gibson, shortstop Willie Wells and third baseman Ray Dandridge, as well as white Latin American Major Leaguers, including the great Venezuelan pitcher Alex Carrasquel. World War II resulted in new travel restrictions cutting off the flow of ball-players from the U.S. The end of the wartime player shortage resulted in pay cuts in the U.S. major leagues, leading many players to sign contracts with Cuban League and the newly formed Mexican League. In 1946, a record 36,000 fans attended the opening of the Gran Estadio del Cerro (now known as Estadio Latinoamericano) in Havana. The 1946–47 season included a number of major leaguers, including Lou Klein and Max Lanier, alongside such great Cuban ballplayers as Orestes (Minnie) Miñoso, Connie Marrero, Julio Moreno, and Sandalio (Sandy) Consuegra. Efforts to control the flow of players to Latin America culminated in a 1947 agreement with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues to bring minor and major league players to Cuba during the winter off-season in the U.S. Cuba League champions dominated the Caribbean Series, which began in 1949. The Havana Cubans, a team formed by a Washington Senators scout in 1946, joined the International League as a farm team of the Cincinnati Reds in 1954, when they were renamed the Havana Sugar Kings. Despite encountering discrimination on the basis of language and race, many Cuban ball-players had success in the Major Leagues, including pitcher Camilo Pascual and former Negro leagues first baseman Minnie Miñoso. In 1959, the year Fidel Castro seized power in the Cuban Revolution, the Havana Sugar Kings won the International League championship, and captured the Little World Series by defeating the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. Castro was an avid fan of the Sugar Kings, and pitched for a pickup squad Los Barbudos in an exhibition game on July 24, 1959. However, the following day, gunfire erupted in the stadium during raucous celebrations on the anniversary of the 26th of July Movement, forcing the cancellation of the Sugar Kings season. The following year, after Castro announced the nationalization of all American-owned enterprises, the Baseball Commissioner announced the Sugar Kings would be relocated to Jersey City. In 1961, professional sports were abolished, and the Cuban League was replaced by the amateur Cuban National Series. Havana's Industriales, founded by workers representatives from the cities industries and intended as heir to Almandares club, dominated the league, winning four of the first