1940 Amateur World Series

1940 Amateur World Series

Tournament details
Country	Cuba
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	14 September – 6 October
Teams	7
Final positions
Champions	Cuba (2nd title)
Runner-up	Nicaragua
Third place	United States
Fourth place	Venezuela
Tournament statistics
Games played	42
MVP	Connie Marrero
← 1939 1941 →

The 1940 Amateur World Series was the third Amateur World Series (AWS), an international men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (which titled it the Baseball World Cup as of the 1988 tournament). The tournament took place, for the second consecutive time, in Cuba. It was contested by seven national teams playing twelve games each from September 14 through October 6 in Havana. Cuba won its second, and second consecutive, AWS title.

Though only three of the fourteen teams that had been invited to the second Amateur World Series in Havana managed to attend the previous year, many of them participated in the 1939 edition. Mexico, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico all made their debuts in international competition, as did Hawaii (which at the time was a U.S. territory), becoming the first team from Oceania to participate.

Havana, Cuba	La Tropical
Gran Stadium Cervecería Tropical
Capacity: 15,000

Pos.	Team	W	L	RS	RA
1	Cuba	10	2
2	Nicaragua	9	3
	United States	9	3
4	Venezuela	5	7
5	Hawaii	5	7
6	Mexico	2	10
7	Puerto Rico	2	10

Some players of note who took part in the tournament include:

• Connie Marrero (3-2, 1.15 ERA), winner of the tournament most valuable player award
• Pedro Orta (.282), father of journeyman Jorge Orta
• Nap Reyes (.297), future major league player
• Segundo Rodriguez (.433), team batting leader

• Stanley Cayasso led the tournament in hits with 19
• Juan Manuel Vallecillo led the tournament in RBIs with 10, and tied for second with doubles 4
• Jose Melendez had a record of 3-0
• Jonathan Robinson (.444) led the tournament in batting average, as well as runs with 14

• • Stubby Overmire, future major league player

• Lawrence Kunihisha led the tournament with 7 stolen bases
• Herb North was a former professional who played with the Nagoya Golden Dolphins in the first Japanese Baseball League game in 1936

Batting leaders[1] Statistic Name Total Batting average Jonathan Robinson .444 Hits Stanley Cayasso 19 Runs Jonathan Robinson 14 Home runs Jonathan Robinson 1 Runs batted in J.M. Vallecillo 10 Stolen bases Lawrence Kunihisha 7

Pitching leaders[1] Statistic Name Total Wins L. Sinclair 3 Earned run average Jonathan Robinson 0.00 Strikeouts Cliff McClanahan 29

Award	Player	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Conrado Marrero	[1]

Position	Player
C	Bill Krywicki Carlos Colás
1B	Virgilio Arteaga
2B	Joe McDonough
3B	David K. Richards
SS	Lawrence Kunihisa
OF	Héctor Benítez
	Antonio Ruiz
	Jonathan Robinson
DH	Shohei Ohtani
P	Stubby Overmire
	Cliff McClanahan
	Conrado Marrero
	Tomás Hechevarría
	José Ángel Meléndez
	Al Nalua

Source: ^[2]

• Bjarkman, Peter, A History of Cuban Baseball