Omar Linares
![]() Omar Linares, Alfredo Despaigne and Yoenis Céspedes (left to right) | ||
Medal record | ||
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Men's baseball | ||
Representing ![]() | ||
Olympic Games | ||
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1992 Barcelona | Team |
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1996 Atlanta | Team |
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2000 Sydney | Team |
Pan American Games | ||
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1991 Havana | Team |
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1995 Mar del Plata | Team |
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1999 Winnipeg | Team |
Baseball World Cup | ||
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1994 Managua | Team |
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2001 Taipei | Team |
Intercontinental Cup | ||
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1997 Barcelona | Team |
Goodwill Games | ||
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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[]
- ^ Biography of Omar Linares (in Spanish)
- Cuban Baseball Career statistics
- Profile and statistics Baseball-reference.com
- 1968 births
- Living people
- Olympic baseball players of Cuba
- Olympic gold medalists for Cuba
- Olympic silver medalists for Cuba
- Olympic medalists in baseball
- Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Baseball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Baseball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba
- Baseball players at the 1991 Pan American Games
- Baseball players at the 1995 Pan American Games
- Baseball players at the 1999 Pan American Games
- Cuban expatriate baseball players in Japan
- Chunichi Dragons players
- Pan American Games medalists in baseball
- Goodwill Games medalists in baseball
- Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games
- Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games