Baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Baseball had its second appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, with games played at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. Eight nations competed, with the preliminary phase consisting of each team playing every other team. Playoffs were then held, with the four highest ranked teams advancing. For the semifinals, the 1st place team played the 4th place team and the 2nd place team played against the 3rd place team. The winners of those semifinals competed against each other for the gold medal, with the loser getting the silver medal. The teams defeated in the semifinal played a match for the bronze medal.

Baseball
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
VenueAtlanta–Fulton County Stadium
DatesJuly 20 – August 2, 1996
Teams8
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Cuba
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Japan
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  United States
← 1992
2000 →

Baseball was an event open only to amateurs for the second and last time. Meanwhile, Cuba used its best players as they were amateurs in name only, with all necessary funding coming from the state.[1][2][3]

Medalists

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Gold: Silver: Bronze:
  Cuba
Juan Manrique Garcia
Orestes Kindelán
Antonio Scull
Alberto Hernández
Antonio Pacheco Massó
Juan Padilla
Omar Linares
Lázaro Vargas Alverez
Miguel Caldés Luis
Eduardo Paret
José Estrada González
Rey Isaac Vaillant
Luis Ulacia Alverez
Pedro Luis Lazo
Eliecer Montes de Oca
José Contreras
Omar Luis Martinez
Omar Ajete
Ormari Romero
Jorge Fumero
  Japan
Masahiko Mori
Jutaro Kimura
Masao Morinaka
Hitoshi Ono
Takashi Kurosu
Masahiro Nojima
Makoto Imaoka
Kosuke Fukudome
Takayuki Takabayashi
Yasuyuki Saigo
Masanori Sugiura
Takeo Kawamura
Koichi Misawa
Hideaki Okubo
Nobuhiko Matsunaka
Tadahito Iguchi
Takao Kuwamoto
Daishin Nakamura
Tomoaki Sato
Yoshitomo Tani
  United States
Kris Benson
R. A. Dickey
Troy Glaus
Chad Green
Seth Greisinger
Travis Lee
Augie Ojeda
Jason Williams
Chad Allen
Kip Harkrider
A. J. Hinch
Jacque Jones
Mark Kotsay
Matt LeCroy
Braden Looper
Brian Loyd
Warren Morris
Jeff Weaver
Jim Parque
Billy Koch

Teams

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  •   United States (Hosts)
  •   Japan (1995 Asian Baseball Championship gold medalist)
  •   South Korea (1995 Asian Baseball Championship silver medalist)
  •   Netherlands (1991 European Baseball Championship gold medalist)
  •   Italy (1991 European Baseball Championship silver medalist)
  •   Cuba (1995 Pan American games gold medalist)
  •   Nicaragua (1995 Pan American games silver medalist)
  •   Australia (Oceania Baseball Championship gold medalist, defeat 1995 Africa Cup Baseball Championship   South Africa in a playoff)

Preliminary round

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Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD PCT GB Qualification
1   Cuba 7 7 0 97 49 48 1.000 Advance to knockout round
2   United States (H) 7 6 1 81 27 54 .857 1
3   Japan 7 4 3 69 45 24 .571 3
4   Nicaragua 7 4 3 44 30 14 .571 3
5   Netherlands 7 2 5 32 76 −44 .286 5
6   Italy 7 2 5 33 71 −38 .286 5
7   Australia 7 2 5 47 86 −39 .286 5
8   South Korea 7 1 6 40 59 −19 .143 6
Source: [citation needed]
(H) Hosts

Day 1 (July 20)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  United States 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 4 6 0
  Nicaragua 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 1
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Cuba 2 0 3 3 0 8 0 3 19 20 2
  Australia 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 8 12 5
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Japan 1 1 1 0 1 2 6 12 17 0
  Netherlands 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 4

Day 2 (July 21)

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3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  South Korea 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1
  Italy 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 x 2 6 1
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
  Japan 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 1 7 6 0
  Cuba 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 12 1

Day 3 (July 22)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Netherlands 8 2 0 0 0 4 0 2 16 18 1
  Australia 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 6 7 2
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Italy 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 10 1
  Nicaragua 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 x 7 5 2
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  South Korea 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 8 4
  United States 1 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 x 7 10 3

Day 4 (July 23)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Netherlands 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 4 0
  Cuba 2 0 2 1 6 7 x 18 17 0
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Nicaragua 0 1 1 5 1 0 0 0 0 8 14 4
  South Korea 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 8 1
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Australia 0 1 0 0 1 7 0 0 0 9 14 0
  Japan 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 11 3

Day 5 (July 24)

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3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  United States 6 0 5 2 0 2 0 15 11 0
  Italy 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 2
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Cuba 0 1 1 4 0 3 2 3 0 14 20 0
  South Korea 0 0 0 2 0 3 1 0 5 11 17 2

Day 6 (July 25)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Nicaragua 1 0 4 0 0 0 5 10 0
  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Italy 3 2 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 12 15 3
  Australia 0 2 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 8 12 3
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Japan 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 6 1
  United States 7 0 0 0 7 1 X 15 14 0

Day 7 (July 27)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Japan 6 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 13 13 1
  Nicaragua 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 6 11 2
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Italy 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 6 11 7
  Cuba 0 4 5 5 4 2 x 20 19 0
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Australia 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 5 9 1
  United States 7 0 2 6 0 0 x 15 13 0

Day 8 (July 28)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Netherlands 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 10 0
  South Korea 0 3 2 1 5 0 0 0 x 11 16 1
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Cuba 4 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 10 13 0
  United States 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 2 1 8 13 2
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2
  Nicaragua 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 5 10 13 0

Day 9 (July 29)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Netherlands 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 8 13 1
  Italy 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 3 7 9 1
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Nicaragua 1 0 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 7 13 1
  Cuba 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 1 X 8 12 1
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  South Korea 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 8 2
  Japan 0 0 2 3 5 3 1 14 19 0

Day 10 (July 30)

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10:00AM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  United States 5 0 2 2 1 4 3 17 18 1
  Netherlands 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 3
3:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Italy 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 1
  Japan 1 2 0 1 3 2 1 2 12 13 0
8:00PM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Australia 0 0 0 8 0 0 1 2 0 11 14 2
  South Korea 2 2 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 10 3

Knockout round

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Semifinals Gold medal game
      
1   Cuba 8
4   Nicaragua 1
  Cuba 13
  Japan 9
3   Japan 11
2   United States 2 Bronze medal game
  Nicaragua 3
  United States 10

Semifinals (August 1)

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Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Nicaragua 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 2
  Cuba 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 2 x 8 14 2
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Japan 0 3 0 0 3 0 2 2 1 11 15 0
  United States 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 6 1

Bronze medal match (August 2)

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Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  United States 4 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 10 12 1
  Nicaragua 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 2

Final (August 2)

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Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
  Japan 0 0 0 1 5 0 1 0 2 9 9 1
  Cuba 3 3 0 0 0 4 1 2 x 13 14 0

Final standing

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Sources

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References

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  1. ^ Harral, Emily (31 August 2019). "The Utility Player: An Examination of the Role of Baseball in Cuban Society". Honors Theses. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  2. ^ "The Olympic Team No Dream". CBS News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  3. ^ OlympicTalk (January 8, 2021). "Tommy Lasorda, only manager of World Series, Olympic champions, dies at 93 - OlympicTalk | NBC Sports". Olympics.nbcsports.com.
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