Since 1961, the Cuban National Baseball team has entered 51 international baseball tournaments (including the 2009 WBC).
42 out of the 51 tournaments have ended with Cuba as champion... of the 9 times Cuba did not win, they finished as runner-up 8 times.
With tonight's 5-0 defeat at the hands of Japan, the 2009 WBC will mark the first time that Cuba did not finish either first or second in an international competition in more than 45 years!!
Dominance of this sort hasn't been sustained for such a long period of time by any nation in any sport.
Despite their loss tonight, the world needs to recognize the dominance of Cuban baseball over the past half century.
Nothing compares.
The Foreman: About the Author
- Nate Schaps
- Game 7 of the 1985 World Series, I was a few months past my 4th birthday as I remember my eldest brother's disgust in watching the St Louis Cardinals take an 11-0 beating. A night earlier in game 6, first base umpire Don Denkinger infamously choked an easy 9th inning call, costing the Red Birds the potential clinching game of the "I-70 series". This is not only my farthest back sports memory, its my farthest back memory of any sort. A native of Naples, FL, I spent my collegiate years as a Trojan at the University of Southern California where I earned a B.A. in Public Relations from the Annenberg School for Communications. Full Disclosure, my favorite teams are the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Lightning, Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, and of course, my alma mater, the Men of Troy.
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