Baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Baseball
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Baseball; at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Venue	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium
Dates	July 20 – August 2, 1996
Teams	8
Medalists

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 a single round-robin tournament. Playoffs were then held, with the four highest ranked teams advancing. For the semifinals, the first place team played the fourth place team and the second place team played the third 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 was an event open only to amateurs for the second and last time. Meanwhile, Cuba, which went undefeated in the tournament, used its best players as they were amateurs in name only, with all necessary funding coming from the state.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Medalists

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

United States (Hosts)
Japan (1995 Asian Baseball Championship gold medalist)
South Korea (1995 Asian Baseball Championship silver medalist)
Netherlands (1995 European Baseball Championship gold medalist)
Italy (1995 European Baseball Championship silver medalist)^[4]
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

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: ^[5]
(H) Hosts

Day 1 (July 20)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

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

Place	Team
	Cuba
	Japan
	United States
4.	Nicaragua
5.	Netherlands
6.	Italy
7.	Australia
8.	South Korea

1996 Olympic champions
Cuba Second title

Source^[5]

References

^ Harral, Emily (31 August 2019). "The Utility Player: An Examination of the Role of Baseball in Cuban Society". Honors Theses. University of Mississippi. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
^ "The Olympic Team No Dream". CBS News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
^ Zaccardi, Nick (January 8, 2021). "Tommy Lasorda, only manager of World Series, Olympic champions, dies at 93". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on 2021-01-08.
^ Rensink, Gérald (1995-07-13). "Honkballers plaatsen zich overtuigend voor EK-finale en Olympische Spelen". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 2026-02-10.
^ ^a ^b "Official Olympic Report". Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved January 12, 2026 – via LA84 Foundation.

External links

Atlanta 1996 Baseball Men Results at Olympics.com

[1] Harral, Emily (31 August 2019). "The Utility Player: An Examination of the Role of Baseball in Cuban Society". Honors Theses. University of Mississippi. Retrieved 17 September 2023.

[2] "The Olympic Team No Dream". CBS News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2018.

[3] Zaccardi, Nick (January 8, 2021). "Tommy Lasorda, only manager of World Series, Olympic champions, dies at 93". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on 2021-01-08.

[4] Rensink, Gérald (1995-07-13). "Honkballers plaatsen zich overtuigend voor EK-finale en Olympische Spelen". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 2026-02-10.

[LA84-5] "Official Olympic Report". Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved January 12, 2026 – via LA84 Foundation.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Baseball at the Summer Olympics
Tournaments	1896 1900 1904–1908 1912 1920–1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968–1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012–2016 2020 2024 2028
Qualifications	1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2020 2028
Squads	1964 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2020 2028
Related topics	1919 Inter-Allied Games 1968 International Amateur Tournament Amateur World Series World Baseball Classic
Italicised years indicate baseball was featured as a demonstration sport.
List of medalists List of venues