USA celebrates 20-year anniversary of winning their first (and so far only) Olympic gold medal in baseball

USA celebrates 20-year anniversary of winning their first (and so far only) Olympic gold medal in baseball
27/09/2020
The 2000 Games was the first edition that the IBAF allowed professional baseball players to participate. USA loaded their roster with future MLB All-Star pitcher Ben Sheets and veteran catcher Pat Borders, with Tom Lasorda as manager.

The United States Olympic Baseball Team claimed a historical gold medal on 27 September 2000, as they shut out Cuba, 4-0, in front of a crowd of 14,107 at Sydney Baseball Stadium.

Future Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Ben Sheets shut down Cuba's potent line-up, only surrendering three singles, two by Omar Linares and one by Oscar Macias, over nine innings.

USA Baseball batters wasted no time against Cuba starter Pedro Lazo. Leadoff hitter Brent Abernathy, a future MLB second baseman, scored the first run of the game in the top of the first. The US added three runs in the top of the fifth against Jose Ibar and Maels Rodriguez. Right fielder and clean-up hitter Ernie Young, left fielder Mike Neill and catcher Pat Borders all registered two-hit games.

Borders, 37 years old at the time, was the player with the most MLB experience on the US roster. He was the MVP of the 1992 MLB World Series. Prior to the 2000 season, he had signed a Minor League contract with the Tampa Bay Rays and was playing for their Triple-A affiliate, the Durham Bulls, when the phone call from USA manager Tom Lasorda came.

Borders was going to pass, feeling worn out after catching 96 Triple-A games, but his wife convinced him to take the opportunity. Lasorda announced that Borders was going to play for him at the Olympics saying: "He's like the coach, out there."

The 2000 Olympics were the first edition of the Games open to professional baseball players. The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) voted to allow professionals to compete in international baseball ahead of the 1998 IBAF Baseball World Cup.

The final between USA and Cuba was recently part of the Olympic Rewind series, presented by WBSC in collaboration with the Olympic Channel.

Before the final, Korea defeated Japan, 3-1, in the third-place game to claim baseball's 2000 Olympic bronze medal.