1982 Amateur World Series

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(Redirected from 1982 Baseball World Cup)

The 1982 Amateur World Series was the 27th Amateur World Series and was different from all the others from 1976 through 2006 in that the Cuban national team did not win Gold. That is because Cuba sat out the competition. Held in Seoul, South Korea from September 4 through September 14, 1982, this Series was the first held in South Korea and the second ever held in Asia. The South Korean national team won Gold. The MVP was Dong-yeol Sun.

[edit] Team Summaries

Australia tied for 9th of the 10 teams with a 2-7 record but put up one of the best games against the Gold Medal winners, losing by one run (7-6). Notable names include Phil Dale and Adrian Meagher, two of the top Australian pitchers of the 20th Century.
Canada finished 5th at 5-4. One problem was pitching depth - they hurled two shutouts, but allowed 17 or 18 runs three times.
Dominican Republic tied for 6th at 3-6.
Italy tied for last with Australia at 2-7 but they did it in very odd form. They beat both the Gold Medal winner (2-1) and Silver Medal winner (3-2) but lost to every other team.
Japan won Silver with a 7-2 record. They lost to the tourney winner (South Korea) and last-place Italy while winning all their other games. Japan was led by Kunio Takesue (the leader with 4 home runs and 18 RBI) and Mitsugo Kobayashi (the leader with 7 stolen bases).
South Korea won their Gold thanks to a 8-1 record, their only loss coming by one run to Italy. They allowed more than two runs in only one game, against Australia, as their pitching led the way. Dong-yeol Sun did not allow an earned run while winning the MVP award. Dong-won Choi was another pitcher who went on to a fine career in South Korea.
Netherlands tied for 6th with a 3-6 record. Notable names include the all-time Hoofdklasse win leader, Bart Volkerijk, and arguably the best Dutch hitter of the century, 22-year-old Marcel Joost.
{{nt|PAN}] tied for 6th at 3-6. They were in almost all their games, with only their loss to Japan (by 5 runs) being more than a 2-run difference.
Chinese Taipei was 4th with a 6-3 record. They had the tourney leader in average (.531), doubles (7) and hits (17), listed in A History of Cuban Baseball as Chen Sin Chang. The IBAF rosters for the event list six players with similar names but none who is a match for that moniker. Their losses to the Japan and USA were by one run each as they just missed a Medal.
United States won Bronze at 6-3. They included several future major leaguers, most notably Chris Sabo and Bill Swift. Rob Cobb led the event with 10 runs scored.