United States National Baseball Team - Olympic Games

Olympic Games

Olympic medal record
Men's Baseball
Gold 2000 Sydney Team
Bronze 1996 Atlanta Team
Bronze 2008 Beijing Team

Although single exhibition games had been played in conjunction with five previous Olympics, the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles was the first to feature a tournament in the program, and also the first time that the sport was played in Olympics held in the United States. Eight teams competed in the tournament held at Dodger Stadium. Cuba, after winning the gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games, was to participate, but did not as a result of the Soviet-led boycott. The US national team finished second to Japan, however, no medals were given as Baseball at the 1984 Summer Olympics was a demonstration sport.

The US won its only gold at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Baseball had its debut as an official medal sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The US finished fourth, behind Cuba, Japan and Chinese Taipei. In 2004, the US had to face the embarrassment of not even qualifying for the Olympics in Athens, Greece.

The United States qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics by winning the American Qualifying Tournament. They won the Bronze medal at the Beijing games, finishing behind South Korea (Gold) and Cuba (Silver).

At the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting on July 8, 2005, baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, becoming the first sports voted out of the Olympics since Polo was eliminated from the 1936 Summer Olympics.


2008 USA Baseball Olympic Team roster
Players Coaches/Other

Pitchers

  • 40 Brett Anderson
  • 34 Jake Arrieta
  • 30 Trevor Cahill *
  • 47 R.A. Dickey *
  • 45 Brian Duensing *
  • 39 Jonathon Niese *
  • 15 Brandon Knight
  • 21 Mike Koplove
  • 49 Blaine Neal
  • 37 Jeff Stevens
  • 29 Stephen Strasburg *
  • 35 Casey Weathers

Catchers

  • 6 Lou Marson
  • 19 Taylor Teagarden *

Infielders

  • 18 Brian Barden *
  • 17 Matthew Brown *
  • 2 Jason Donald
  • 10 Mike Hessman
  • 3 Jayson Nix *
  • 26 Terry Tiffee

Outfielders

  • 24 Dexter Fowler *
  • 7 John Gall
  • 44 Matthew LaPorta
  • 14 Nate Schierholtz *

Manager

  • Davey Johnson *
  • Bob Watson (General Manager of
    USA Baseball Professional Teams)

Coaches

  • Reggie Smith (Hitting)
  • Marcel Lachemann (Pitching)
  • Rick Eckstein (Bench/3rd Base)
  • Dick Cooke (Auxiliary Coach)
  • Rolando de Armas (Auxiliary Coach)

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