1952 Helsinki/1956 Melbourne/1964 Tokyo
1984 Los Angeles/1988 Seoul/1992 Barcelona/1996 Atlanta
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From its humble beginnings at the 1912
Olympics in Sweden, baseball and the
Olympics have endured a long and storied
courtship. This lengthy association was
consummated at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona,
when baseball made its debut as an official
Olympic sport.
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The 1992 Games in Barcelona marked the end of
an 88-year journey for Olympic baseball. While
the first official exhibition baseball game in
the Olympic Games was a 1912 contest in
Stockholm, Sweden, there have been reports that
an unrecognized baseball game was played at the
Olympics as early as the 1904 Games in St.
Louis, Mo. A number of single game exhibitions
were also played at the 1936, 1952, 1956 and
1964 Olympic Games.
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Baseball was first introduced as part of the
1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. The
USA was scheduled to play an amateur baseball
club formed in Sweden called the Vesteras.
After seeing the Americans warm-up, the
Vesteras were convinced they could not compete
with the Americans and asked the Americans to
[Image] loan them a pitcher and catcher, which they
did. Even so, the U.S. downed the Vesteras 13-3
and Olympic baseball was born.
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After a 24-year hiatus, baseball reappeared as
part of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
Although other countries had planned to send
teams for the tournament, none of them did. So,
the USA squad split into two teams and played a
night game before a world-record crowd reported
to be over 125,000. The World Amateurs defeated
the USA Olympics 6-5.
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With the success of the New York Yankees and
Babe Ruth in the late 1930s, baseball's
popularity had grown worldwide. So popular was
the sport that it was scheduled to be an
official Olympic sport at the 1940 Games in
Japan. However, the outbreak of World War II
led to a cancellation of the Games and the
enthusiasm to add baseball waned.
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Baseball reappeared in the Olympics in 1952 in
Helsinki, Finland. This game matched Finland's
champion team against a group of Americans from
the Olympic Village, coached by the manager of
the U.S. soccer team. Using borrowed equipment,
the U.S. played and won a practice game against
a team from Venezuela 14-6. Playing before only
4,000 fans, the Americans scored seven
first-inning runs and cruised to a 19-1 rout of
the Finns.
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At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, a
baseball game was played matching a team of
Americans primarily consisting of military
personnel from the U.S. Far East Command
against a squad from Australia. The game began
with only a few thousand fans; however, thanks
to early arriving track and field fans, the
crowd reached almost 100,000 and saw the U.S.
post an 11-5 win.
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Legendary USC Coach Rod Dedeaux assembled a
team to participate in the 1964 Olympic Games
in Tokyo, Japan. This would be the last time
Olympic baseball competition would be a
one-game event. The 1964 U.S. team was the best
organized at that point. Having toured Japan
competing against a Far East all-star team in
preparation for the Olympics, the U.S. was in
top form when it reached Tokyo and posted a 6-2
victory.
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Head Coach Rod Dedeaux returned to the Olympics
20 years later in his hometown of Los Angeles,
Calif., for the 1984 Games. This event marked
the first tournament format in Olympic baseball
history, as more than 385,000 people watched
the eight-team tournament.
With current major league stars like Will
Clark, Barry Larkin and Mark McGwire on the
roster, the USA team was considered to be the
greatest amateur team ever put on the diamond
by the United States. This talent-laden squad
breezed through the round-robin portion of the
schedule, ending the preliminary round with a
3-0 record.
In the semifinals, the USA easily downed Korea
by a margin of 5-2, as Don August pitched 4-1/3
scoreless innings and Oddibe McDowell added a
two-run homer, his third of the tournament.
The unbeaten USA team looked to be the sure
favorite for the gold, having won a pre-Olympic
series of games against the Japanese 6-1. But
in the Gold Medal Game, the Japanese pitchers
combined to allow only three runs on seven
hits. Katsumi Hirosawa hit a three-run homer in
the top of the 8th, putting Japan up 6-1. Japan
went on to stun the heavily favored Americans
by a score of 6-3 and capture the gold medal.
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The 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, marked the
seventh time that baseball was part of the
Olympic Games. It was also to be the final time
baseball would have demonstration sport status.
With 10 players returning from the 1987 Pan
American Games team, this USA team headed to
Seoul on a mission -- get the gold that eluded
the 1984 team. In its first game, the U.S. team
faced a stern test, but downed host Korea 5-3.
The team then went on to rout Australia by a
12-2 margin and clinched the top spot in its
division. Although the team finished the
preliminary round play by dropping an 8-7
verdict to Canada, it headed into a semifinal
match-up with Puerto Rico focused on its goal.
With right-hander Ben McDonald hurling his
second complete game, the USA easily downed
Puerto Rico 7-2, setting up a rematch of the
1984 final game against Japan. This time,
however, the outcome was different. First
baseman Tino Martinez belted two homers and
drove in four runs and shortstop Dave Silvestri
added an RBI single to support the
complete-game pitching of Jim Abbott, to lead
the USA to a 5-3 gold-medal victory.
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Many years of dedicated effort came to fruition
on October 13, 1986, as the International
Olympic Committee granted baseball official
sport status, beginning with the 1992 Games in
Barcelona.
To open the '92 Games, the U.S. team fared well
in the round-robin portion of the tournament.
Victories over Spain (4-1), Chinese Taipei
(10-9), Italy (10-0), Puerto Rico (8-2) and the
Dominican Republic (10-0) earned the team a
berth in the medal round. However, opening
round losses to Cuba (9-6) and Japan (7-1) were
grim premonitions of what was to come.
USA faced Cuba in the semifinal game of the
medal round, but the bigger, more experienced
Cubans were too much for the young Americans,
as they downed the U.S. 4-1. Powerful Cuban
centerfielder Victor Mesa propelled the Cubans
by driving in all four runs, while the U.S.
team could only manage one.
The Americans still had a chance for the bronze
medal versus Japan, who had lost in the
semifinals to Chinese Taipei 5-2. Without a
day's rest, the USA team gave up an early
four-run lead to the Japanese team, who managed
14 hits on five U.S. pitchers. The USA pulled
to within 4-3 in the fifth inning, but the
bullpen went on to give up four runs in the
sixth. Japan secured the bronze medal with a
8-3 defeat of the Americans. In the gold medal
game, Cuba routed Chinese Taipei 11-1, as
pitcher George Diaz allowed only four hits en
route to the complete game win. Diaz was helped
out by three home runs, as the Cuban offense
scored in seven of nine innings. The
overpowering Cubans did not lose a single game
in the Olympic tournament.
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The Americans pounded 32 homers and averaged
more than 10 runs per game at the 1996 Atlanta
Centennial Olympic Games. However, with what
Head Coach Skip Bertman called the best
offensive team ever assembled by USA Baseball,
America's vision of a gold medal was
extinguished by Japan in the semifinal game on
August 1.
The much-heralded and highly anticipated
match-up between the USA and Cuba for the gold
medal never occurred. Cuba held up its end of
the deal by defeating Nicaragua 8-1 in the
semifinals, but the USA's task was stymied by
Japan. The Japanese played long-ball with the
Americans by smashing five homers off the U.S.
mound corps and shut down the USA offensive
attack by limiting the Americans to just six
hits, and posted an 11-2 victory.
In the gold medal game, Cuba defeated Japan
13-9 to retain its Olympic Champion title and
reaffirm its status as ruler of the
international baseball world.
Although the USA didn't achieve the ultimate
goal of a first-place finish, the Americans
brought back the first official medal in USA
Baseball history by defeating Nicaragua 10-3 in
the Bronze Medal Game.