Born in
Maracaibo,
Zulia, Casanova started his professional career in unaffiliated Venezuelan first division league, playing for the Centauros, Vencedor, Cardenales and Cervecería clubs. Playing with the
Venezuela club under manager
Manuel Malpica, he won the first division championship 1941, along with fellow
Zulianos Luis Romero Petit and
Guillermo Vento. Casanova also played in an exhibition series against the touring
Cuban Stars of
Negro league baseball in February 1941. Casanova played for the
Venezuela national baseball team that captured the
1941 Amateur World Series championship in
Havana. In the championship game against
Cuba, he was part of the three run rally for Venezuela, hitting a ground ball that was mishandled to score
Chucho Ramos. Casanova's throw to
Dalmiro Finol at second base was the final out to secure the world title. He was awarded the honor of
Most Valuable Player, becoming the first non-Cuban to win the award. Casanova posted a .429 batting average in the group stage of the tournament, with 12 hits in 28 at-bats over all eight of Venezuela's group stage games. Casanova was part of the Cervecería Princesa club, based in
Maiquetía, when it relocated to the capital and took the name Cervecería Caracas (the team that would become the present-day
Leones del Caracas. He managed Cervecería to a title in 1943. == Managerial career ==