1963 Pan American Games

From BR Bullpen

The 1963 Pan American Games were the 4th Pan American Games. They were held in São Paulo, Brazil from April 21 to May 1, 1963.

 Cuba had its first impressive showing after the end of professional baseball on the island. Recovering from a poor performance in the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games, Gil Torres's outfit went 7-1 to win the Gold. Their only loss was 5-2 to Mexico. Top performers at the plate were Urbano González (the best average, .485, and leader with 16 hits), Antonio González (.179, but the leader with 13 runs), Miguel Cuevas (9 for 17, a tourney-best three home runs) and Pedro Cháves (.438, an event-high 13 RBI). On the mound, Aquino Abreu (2-0, 0.50), Modesto Verdura (2-0, 1.00) and Manuel Alarcón (2-0, 1.50) were all excellent, while Antonio Rubio (1.42) took the only loss.

 United States won Silver at 5-3, dropping their games to Cuba by 13-3 and 3-1 scores. Archie Moore and Wilson Parma tied for the lead with four doubles, while Alan DeJardin led with four steals. Archie Allen coached for them.

 Mexico got the Bronze, going 4-4. Luis Garcia led the event with 28 13/3 innings pitched.

 Venezuela tied for last at 2-6. They did not have a player who led the Games in any category.

 Brazil was 2-6 as the hosts, tying for last. Oscar Ogassawara struck out 19, leading the Games.

Source: A History of Cuban Baseball by Peter Bjarkman