Sports journalist Juan Vené died at 97 years of age

Published at: 16/09/2026 08:59 AM

The Venezuelan journalist, chronicler and sports historian, José Rafael Machado Yanes, known as Juan Vené, died in Miami, United States at 97 years of age.

Through social media, family members confirmed the death of Vené, known for being the only Hispanic with a vote for the baseball Hall of Fame for years.

The first reports available from the United States indicate that the communicator suffered a fall weeks ago, a health situation that required immediate hospitalization and that unfortunately led to his death after becoming complicated.

In some sports media they regretted the physical departure of the journalist, who was loved by many and questioned by others because of his role in the Hall of Fame, Radio Miraflores reports.

Letter from Vené left a posthumous farewell letter, followed by an excerpt from it:

“Finally, I have arrived here, to what you call Beyond, which now it is my turn to tell you, the More Here”, Vené began his last column, with that comic aptitude that used to accompany his writings.

“There I saw Roberto Clemente practicing batting, while Eladio Secades shared notes and comments with Carlitos González, Pancho Pepe and Delio Amado León.”

Vené was born in Caracas on January 10, 1929. He began his career as a reporter in the Venezuelan capital in 1947 and graduated as a journalist from the Márquez Sterling school in Havana (Cuba) in 1953. He later obtained a postgraduate degree in history at Saint Francis College, Minnesota, in 1963. Since October 1960, he dedicated himself exclusively to major league baseball, where he worked as a radio and television narrator for 22 years for Latin America, including Mexico.

The communicator covered 45 consecutive World Series and All-Star Games. In 2014, he was exalted to the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, in recognition of his work as a journalist and commentator.

The Venezuelan was a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) and gave him the right to vote for the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.

Mazo News Team