1971 Amateur World Series

From BR Bullpen

The 1971 Amateur World Series was the 19th Amateur World Series. Like many prior editions, it was held in Havana, Cuba. It took place from November 21 through December 4, 1971.

 Cuba steamrolled over the competition, as the home team went 9-0 for the Gold Medal. An All-Star team from all the other countries faced Cuba for a finale, but Cuba crushed them as well, 6-0, with a 2-hit shutout by José Antonio Huelga. Servio Borges managed the team, which allowed only 4 runs in 9 games while scoring 66. Rodolfo Puente (.429) led the event in average and was named MVP. Elpidio Mancebo (.382) led all players with 12 runs. The mound corps was led by Santiago Mederos (2-0, 0.00), Roberto Valdes (1-0, 0.00), Antonio Jimenez (2-0, 0.51), Oscar Romero (2-0, 0.53) and Huelga (2-0, 0.75).

 Colombia had one of its best tourneys, winning Silver with a 7-2 record. Luis Escoba tied for the home run lead (7), Luis Gaviria tied for the triple lead (2) and future major leaguer Orlando Ramirez led in steals (7). Nelson Garcia threw the second no-hitter in Series history, blanking Italy.

 Nicaragua took home Bronze at 6-3 despite being one of two teams to not have a player lead the event in a major category.

 Puerto Rico also went 6-3. Carlos Lowell led all pitchers with 3 wins.

 Panama placed 5th at 5-4. Ruperto Cooper led in RBI (11) and hits (14).

 Dominican Republic and  Canada tied for 6th at 4-5. Canada's Rick Cruise tied for the most homers (7), while Dominican Ramon Greene tied for the lead in both doubles (5) and triples (2).

 Italy and  Mexico tied for 8th at 2-7. Mexico's Eduardo Ruiz tied for the most doubles (5).

 Netherlands Antilles was last at 0-9. Alvin Fleming tied for the most doubles (5) while teammate A.T. Wester tied for the most triples (2).

Source: A History of Cuban Baseball by Peter Bjarkman