1969 Amateur World Series

International baseball tournament

The 1969 Amateur World Series was an international baseball tournament held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from August 15 through August 26, 1969. The competition marked the first time the United States participated in the Amateur World Series since the 1942 tournament. Cuba and the US were both 9-0 when they met in the finals, with Cuba winning 2–1. Gaspar Pérez was the winning pitcher for Cuba and also drove in their first run to tie the game and scored the second, decisive run. Most of the 20,000 fans who watched the finals were pro-Cuba, reportedly due to lingering resentment from the 1965 US invasion of the Dominican Republic.^[1]

Participants

The 1969 edition of the Amateur World Series would be a watershed for international competition, as it saw the return of two powerhouses, the United States and Cuba. The United States, which had not participated in the tournament since withdrawing from the 1942 edition, returned after a 27-year absence. After their victory in the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada had spurred renewed interest in international competitions, William P. "Dutch" Fehring, president of the rejuvenated United States Baseball Federation (USBF), decided to actively participate in International Baseball Federation (FIBA) competitions.^[2] The participation of the U.S. was fraught with political tensions; the U.S. military occupation of the Dominican Republic had occurred just four years earlier.^[3]

Joaquín Balaguer used the tournament for propaganda purposes

Cuba returned after being absent for the 1965 tournament in Colombia, which it was unable to attend due to visa issues brought on by the Cold War. Dominican authorities were active to ensure that political protests did not derail the event, detaining several protesters.^[3] Nevertheless, historians suggest that Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer used the event as propaganda, as a means of legitimizing his rule and positioning the Dominican Republic as an international actor friendly to both the capitalist U.S. and communist Cuba.^[3][4]

Venezuela, which had also not attended in 1965, also made its return.

Venue

Final standings

References

1. Bjarkman, Peter (2007). A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 201. ISBN 9780786428298.
2. "Historia de la Copa Mundial/World Cup History XI-XX (1950-1972)". Baseball de Cuba (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 November 2011.
3. Yoder, April (2023). Pitching Democracy: Baseball and Politics in the Dominican Republic. University of Texas Press Austin. pp. 96–101.
4. Yoder, April (September 29, 2016). "Dominican Baseball and Latin American Pluralism, 1969–1974". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History.