View source for 1998 Baseball World Cup

{{Short description|International Men's amateur baseball tournament}}
{{Infobox international baseball tournament
| image =  1998 Baseball World Cup logo.jpg
| size = 125px
| country = {{ITA}}
| dates = 21 July – 2 August
| num_teams = 16
| champion = Cuba
| num_championships = 22
| second = South Korea
| second-flagvar = 1997
| third = Nicaragua
| fourth = Italy
| games = 68
| mvp = {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Antonio Pacheco (baseball)|Antonio Pacheco]]
| prevseason = [[1994 Baseball World Cup|1994]]
| nextseason = [[2001 Baseball World Cup|2001]]
}}
The '''1998 [[Baseball World Cup]]''' (BWC) was the 33rd international Men's [[amateur]] [[baseball]] tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the [[International Baseball Federation]], which titled it the Amateur World Series from the [[1938 Amateur World Series|1938 tournament]] through the [[1986 Amateur World Series|1986 AWS]]. The tournament was held, for the third time, in [[Italy]], from July 21 to August 2. The final was a repeat of the previous BWC tournament, with [[Cuba national baseball team|Cuba]] again defeating [[South Korea national baseball team|South Korea]] in the final, winning its 22nd title.

There were 16 participating countries, split into two groups, with the first four of each group qualifying for the finals.

This was the first edition of the tournament that allowed professional players to take part in the competition.<ref>{{cite web|title= Timeline |url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/organisation/baseball/history/timeline|website=WBSC.org|access-date=29 July 2022}}</ref>

The next six competitions were also held as the BWC tournament, which was replaced [[2015 WBSC Premier12|in 2015]] by the quadrennial [[WBSC Premier12]].

==Stadiums==
*[[Stadio Steno Borghese]]
*[[Stadio Primo Nebiolo]] 

==First round==
===Pool A===
{| class="wikitable gauche" style="text-align:center"
|- bgcolor="e5e5e5"
! width="50" | Pos 
! width="175" | Team
! width="50" | W
! width="50" | L
! width="50" | RS
! width="50" | RA
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 1 || align=left| {{bb|CUB}} || 7 || 0 || 84 || 10
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 2 || align=left| {{bb|JPN|1947}} || 6 || 1 || 46 || 20
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 3 || align=left| {{bb|DOM}} || 5 || 2 || 56 || 35
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 4 || align=left| {{bb|ITA}} || 3 || 4 || 33 || 64
|-
| 5 || align=left| {{bb|PAN}} || 3 || 4 || 39 || 36
|-
| 6 || align=left| {{bb|CHN}} || 2 || 5 || 20 || 38
|-
| 7 || align=left| {{bb|ESP}} || 2 || 5 || 35 || 67
|-
| 8 || align=left| {{bb|RSA}} || 0 || 7 || 12 || 55
|}

===Pool B===
{| class="wikitable gauche" style="text-align:center"
|- bgcolor="e5e5e5"
! width="50" | Pos 
! width="175" | Team
! width="50" | W
! width="50" | L
! width="50" | RS
! width="50" | RA
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 1 || align=left| {{bb|AUS}} || 5 || 2 || 48 || 32
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 2 || align=left| {{bb|NIC}} || 5 || 2 || 69 || 34
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 3 || align=left| {{bb|KOR|1997}} || 4 || 3 || 35 || 26
|- bgcolor=ccffcc
| 4 || align=left| {{bb|NED}} || 4 || 3 || 45 || 49
|-
| 5 || align=left| {{bb|USA}} || 4 || 3 || 38 || 28
|-
| 6 || align=left| {{bb|CAN}} || 3 || 4 || 27 || 31
|-
| 7 || align=left| {{bb|TPE}} || 3 || 4 || 36 || 35
|-
| 8 || align=left| {{bb|RUS}} || 0 || 7 || 12 || 75
|}

==Final round==
{{Round8-with third
| |'''{{Bb|Cuba}}'''|'''12'''|{{Bb|Netherlands}}|1
| |'''{{Bb|Nicaragua}}'''|'''12'''|{{Bb|Dominican Republic}}|4
| |{{Bb|Japan|1947}}|5|'''{{Bb|South Korea|1997}}'''|'''8'''
| |{{Bb|Australia}}|8|'''{{Bb|Italy}}'''|'''9'''
| |'''{{Bb|Cuba}}'''|'''14'''|{{Bb|Nicaragua}}|2
| |'''{{Bb|South Korea|1997}}'''|'''8'''|{{Bb|Italy}}|2
| |'''{{Bb|Cuba}}'''|'''7'''|{{Bb|South Korea}}|1
| |'''{{Bb|Nicaragua}}'''|'''5'''|{{Bb|Italy}}|1
}}

{{Round4-with third
|RD1=5th–8th place
|RD2=Fifth place
|Consol=Seventh place
| |'''{{Bb|Netherlands}}'''|'''7'''|{{Bb|Dominican Republic}}|3
| |'''{{Bb|Japan|1947}}'''|'''11'''|{{Bb|Australia}}|6
| |{{Bb|Netherlands}}|3|'''{{Bb|Japan|1947}}'''|'''9'''
| |{{Bb|Dominican Republic}}|2|'''{{Bb|Australia}}'''|'''9'''
}}

==Final standings==
{| class="wikitable gauche" style="text-align:center"
|- bgcolor="e5e5e5"
! width="50" | Pos 
! width="175" | Team
! width="50" | W
! width="50" | L
|- bgcolor=#FFD700
| [[File:Med 1.png]] || align=left| {{bb|CUB}} || 10 || 0
|- bgcolor=#CCCCCC
| [[File:Med 2.png]] || align=left| {{bb|KOR|1997}} || 6 || 4
|- bgcolor=#CC9966
| [[File:Med 3.png]] || align=left| {{bb|NIC}} || 7 || 3 
|-
| 4 || align=left| {{bb|ITA}} || 4 || 6
|-
| 5 || align=left| {{bb|JPN|1947}} || 8 || 2
|-
| 6 || align=left| {{bb|NED}} || 5 || 5 
|-
| 7 || align=left| {{bb|AUS}} || 6 || 4 
|-
| 8 || align=left| {{bb|DOM}} || 5 || 5 
|-
| 9 || align=left| {{bb|USA}} || 4 || 3 
|-
| 10 || align=left| {{bb|PAN}} || 3 || 4 
|-
| 11 || align=left| {{bb|CAN}} || 3 || 4
|-
| 12 || align=left| {{bb|TPE}} || 3 || 4
|-
| 13 || align=left| {{bb|CHN}} || 2 || 5
|-
| 14 || align=left| {{bb|ESP}} || 2 || 5
|-
| 15 || align=left| {{bb|RSA}} || 0 || 7
|-
| 16 || align=left| {{bb|RUS}} || 0 || 7
|}

==Awards==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse:collapse; width:90%"
|+ Tournament Awards<ref name=awards/>
! Award !! Player
|-
! MVP
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Antonio Pacheco (baseball)|Antonio Pacheco]]
|-
! Leading hitter
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Orestes Kindelán]]
|-
! Pitcher with best ERA
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[José Contreras]]
|-
! Pitcher with best win/loss average
| {{flagicon|JPN|1947}} [[Eiji Yano]]
|-
! Most Runs batted in
| {{flagicon|CUB}} Antonio Pacheco
|-
! Most Home runs
| {{flagicon|TPE}} [[Chin-Feng Chen]]
|-
! Most Stolen bases
| {{flagicon|ITA}} [[Davide Rigoli]]
|-
! Most Runs scored
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Robelquis Videaux]]
|-
! Outstanding defensive player
| {{flagicon|KOR|1997}} [[Hwang Woo-Gu]]
|}
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse:collapse; width:90%"
|+ All Star Team<ref name=awards>{{cite web|title=XXXIII Baseball World Cup - XXXIII Copa del Mundo de Béisbol|url=http://www.baseball.ch/2003/T/WC/wcaw998.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050214200106/http://www.baseball.ch/2003/T/WC/wcaw998.htm|archive-date=14 February 2005|access-date=28 July 2022}}</ref>
! Position 
! Player
|-
! rowspan=2| Pitchers
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Yovany Aragón]]
|-
| {{flagicon|NED}} [[Jurlaan Lobbezoo]]
|-
! Catcher
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Juan Manrique]]
|-
! First base
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Loidel Chapellí]]
|-
! Second base
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Antonio Pacheco (baseball)|Antonio Pacheco]]
|-
! Third base
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Omar Linares]]
|-
! Shortstop
| {{flagicon|NIC}} [[Edgard López]]
|-
! rowspan=3 | Outfield
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Oscar Machado]]
|-
| {{flagicon|TPE}} [[Chen Chih-yuan]]
|-
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Robelquis Videaux]]
|-
! Designated hitter
| {{flagicon|CUB}} [[Orestes Kindelán]]
|}
{{col-end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050214200127/http://www.baseball.ch/2003/T/WC/wcri998.htm XXXIII Baseball World Cup - XXXIII Copa del Mundo de Béisbol]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110518040657/http://sports123.com/bsb/results/mw-1998.html Mens: World Cup 1998 at Sports123.com]

{{Baseball World Cup}}
{{Messina}}

[[Category:1998 in baseball|World Cup]]
[[Category:Baseball World Cup]]
[[Category:International baseball competitions hosted by Italy|1998]]
[[Category:1998 in Italian sport]]
[[Category:July 1998 sports events in Italy]]
[[Category:August 1998 sports events in Italy]]
[[Category:Sports competitions in Messina]]