[1] Daniel Canónico is best known as the man who anchored the pitching staff for the Venezuela national baseball team which captured the 1941 Amateur World Series in Havana.

[2] At age 18, the determined Canónico approached a talent scout of the Liga Nacional de Béisbol, which had stabilized the first national championship of first division in Venezuela since its inauguration in 1930.

By then the league had established itself as an integral part of Venezuelan popular culture through the baseball, as it had a good blend of local and foreign players that included future Venezuelan big leaguers as Alex Carrasquel and Chucho Ramos, as well as several Negro league stars such as Leon Day, Josh Gibson, Monte Irvin, Bertrum Hunter and Leroy Matlock, among other renowned players.

[2] In 1937 Canónico moved to the Patriotas de Venezuela, playing for them four years before joining the Vargas (1941), Magallanes (1942–43) Victoria (1943–44) and Los Sapos (1945) clubs.

Nevertheless, the overconfident Cubans insisted on an extra playoff game in order to decide an only winner and even allowed a three-day break, which permitted Canónico to rest his arm for one final showdown encounter.

As a result, the decisive game was played on October 22, 1941, and Canónico won a pitching duel against legendary star Conrado Marrero as Venezuela beat Cuba, 3–1, which originated great consequences for baseball pride in both countries.

Shortly after the victory, the then Venezuelan President Isaías Medina Angarita issued an official decree instituting October 22 as National Sports Day in the country.

[2][3][4][5][6] For the fifth Amateur World Series, the Cuban national team was selected by a fan poll, and Marrero was the top vote-getter.

[2] Canónico formed a battery with catcher Roy Campanella, who also managed some Vargas games on an interim basis early in the season.

For many years Canónico has remained a considerably homegrown icon, even becoming the subject of celebratory songs, while a Caracas sports center was named in his honor in 2013 after his once-in-a-lifetime achievement.

Based in Barquisimeto, the VSL Chino Canónico won the league's title in its first season and finished in second place the next year.