Omar Linares

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Linares and the second or maternal family name is Izquierdo.
Omar Linares
Omar Linares.jpg
Omar Linares, Alfredo Despaigne and Yoenis Céspedes (left to right)
Medal record
Men's baseball
Representing  Cuba
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona Team
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Team
Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Team
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1991 Havana Team
Gold medal – first place 1995 Mar del Plata Team
Gold medal – first place 1999 Winnipeg Team
Baseball World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1994 Managua Team
Gold medal – first place 2001 Taipei Team
Intercontinental Cup
Silver medal – second place 1997 Barcelona Team
Goodwill Games
Gold medal – first place 1990 Seattle

Omar Linares Izquierdo (born October 23, 1968)[1] is a former Cuban baseball player. He was born in San Juan y Martínez, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. Linares played third base for the Cuban national team and for Pinar del Río and Vegueros in the Cuban National Series wearing the number 10 on his jersey. After a career as a player in Cuba, Linares, along with other Cuban baseball players such as Antonio Pacheco, Orestes Kindelan, and German Mesa, in coordination with the Cuban national baseball commission, decided to try the Nippon Professional Baseball. Linares spent three seasons with the Chunichi Dragons, wearing the number 44 on his jersey, before returning to Cuba. In 2009 Linares decided to become a batting coach and first base coach for longtime rival team Industriales, helping them to conquer a national championship (his first as an assistant coach). Although Linares never received an official retiring ceremony, the season of 2001–2002 is considered to be his last appearance in Cuban National Baseball Series.

Career in Cuba[]

Linares spent 20 seasons with Pinar del Río in Cuba's National Series, compiling a career .368 batting average, the best in the league's history, with 404 home runs (third among all-times in Cuban league), 1,547 runs batted in and 264 stolen bases. He led the National Series in batting average four times, in RBIs four times and in walks six times. At the end of his career, Linares spent three seasons with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan's Central League. He retired in 2004.

International career[]

As a 14-year-old, Linares was the starting second baseman for the Cuban National youth team at the World Championship, where they won gold. His debut in Cuban national baseball series at the age of 14 was marked by his father's decision of not allowing him to play with Forestales (second team of Pinar del Río) on road games, therefore Linares only played home games that year. The inclusion of Linares in the Cuban national team at the age of 17, as an optional replacement of slugger Jose "Cheito" Rodriguez after the suspension of "Cheito" by the Cuban National baseball commission, is attributed to former manager Jose Miguel Pineda. After being called up, Linares was a mainstay on the Cuban national baseball team under the guidance of Luis Giraldo Casanova during much of the 1980s and 1990s, as the starting third baseman on World Championship winning teams in 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2001. He was part of Cuba's Olympic gold medal teams in 1992 and 1996, and the silver medal team in 2000. Linares also played for the Cuban national team in the 1999 Baltimore Orioles – Cuban national baseball team exhibition series.

References[]

  1. ^ Biography of Omar Linares (in Spanish)
Retrieved from ""