1940 Amateur World Series

1940 Amateur World Series

Tournament details
Country	Cuba
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	14 September – 6 October
Teams	7
Final positions
Champions	Cuba (2nd title)
Tournament statistics
Games played	84
MVP	Connie Marrero

The 1940 Amateur World Series was the third Amateur World Series (AWS), an international men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (which titled it the Baseball World Cup as of the 1988 tournament). The tournament took place, for the second consecutive time, in Cuba. It was contested by seven national teams playing twelve games each from September 14 through October 6 in Havana.

Cuba won its second, and second consecutive, Amateur World Series title. The runners-up were, also for the second consecutive year, Nicaragua and the United States; though the U.S. had finished in third place in 1939, the 1940 tournament saw a marked improvement as it tied with Nicaragua for the silver medal.

Participants

Though only three of the fourteen teams that had been invited to the second Amateur World Series in Havana managed to attend the previous year, many of them participated in the 1940 edition, leading to a robust field of seven teams.

Mexico, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico all made their debuts at the Amateur World Series, as did Hawaii (which at the time was a U.S. territory), becoming the first team from Oceania to participate. However, all of those nations had previously participated in regional competitions; Mexico at the 1926 Central American and Caribbean Games, Venezuela and Puerto Rico at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games, and Hawaii at the tri-national tournament held in Paris during the 1937 World's Exhibition.

Invited teams

Caribbean (2)

• Cuba (hosts)
• Puerto Rico

Oceania (1)

• Hawaii

North America (3)

• United States
• Nicaragua
• Mexico

South America (1)

• Venezuela

Venue

Havana, Cuba	La Tropical
Gran Stadium Cervecería Tropical
Capacity: 15,000

Results

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	RD	PCT	GB		CUB	NCA	USA	HWI	VEN	MEX	PUR	CUB	NCA	USA	HWI	VEN	MEX	PUR
1	Cuba (H)	12	10	2	84	31	53	.833	—			8–5	1–2	3–1	11–1	6–0	10–4		4–5	3–2	6–5	7–1	6–2	19–3
2	Nicaragua	12	9	3	71	38	33	.750	1		5–8		5–7	8–6	5–0	9–0	13–0	5–4		1–0	1–10	8–2	4–0	7–1
3	United States	12	9	3	51	20	31	.750	1		2–1	7–5		2–0	4–0	3–2	4–2	2–3	0–1		3–2	0–3	9–1	15–0
4	Hawaii	12	5	7	51	49	2	.417	5		1–3	6–8	0–2		6–3	3–8	7–4	5–6	10–1	2–3		1–5	7–4	3–2
5	Venezuela	12	5	7	33	53	−20	.417	5		1–11	0–5	0–4	3–6		6–1	3–1	1–7	2–8	3–0	5–1		6–5	3–4
6	Mexico	12	2	10	30	69	−39	.167	8		0–6	0–9	2–3	8–3	1–6		4–3	2–6	0–4	1–9	4–7	5–6		6–7
7	Puerto Rico	12	2	10	31	91	−60	.167	8		4–10	0–13	2–4	4–7	1–3	3–4		3–19	1–7	0–15	2–3	4–3	2–3

Source: Baseball.ch (archived)
(H) Hosts

Highlights

Some players of note who took part in the tournament include:

Cuba

• Connie Marrero (3-2, 1.15 ERA), winner of the tournament most valuable player award
• Pedro Orta (.282), father of journeyman Jorge Orta
• Nap Reyes (.297), future major league player
• Segundo Rodriguez (.433), team batting leader

Nicaragua

• Stanley Cayasso led the tournament in hits with 19
• Juan Manuel Vallecillo led the tournament in RBIs with 10, and tied for second with doubles 4
• José "Chino" Meléndez had a record of 3-0
• Jonathan Robinson (.444) led the tournament in batting average, as well as runs with 14

United States

• Stubby Overmire, future major league player

Hawaii

• Lawrence Kunihisha led the tournament with 7 stolen bases
• Herb North was a former professional who played with the Nagoya Golden Dolphins in the first Japanese Baseball League game in 1936

Final standings

Pos.	Team	W	L
	Cuba	10	2
	Nicaragua	9	3
	United States	9	3
4	Venezuela	5	7
	Hawaii	5	7
6	Mexico	2	10
7	Puerto Rico	2	10

Honors and awards

Statistical leaders

Batting leaders

Statistic	Name	Total
Batting average	Jonathan Robinson	.444
Hits	Stanley Cayasso	19
Runs	Jonathan Robinson	14
Home runs	Jonathan Robinson	1
Runs batted in	Juan Manuel Vallecillo	10
Stolen bases	Lawrence Kunihisha	7

Pitching leaders

Statistic	Name	Total
Wins	L. Sinclair	3
Earned run average	Jonathan Robinson	0.00
Strikeouts	Cliff McClanahan	29

Awards

Award	Player	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Conrado Marrero

All-Star team

Position	Player
C	Bill Krywicki Carlos Colás
1B	Virgilio Arteaga
2B	Joe McDonough
3B	David K. Richards
SS	Lawrence Kunihisa
OF	Héctor Benítez
	Antonio Ruiz
	Jonathan Robinson
P	Stubby Overmire
	Cliff McClanahan
	Conrado Marrero
	Tomás Hechevarría
	José "Chino" Meléndez
	Al Nalua

Source:

References

• Bjarkman, Peter, A History of Cuban Baseball