1961 Amateur World Series
The 1961 Amateur World Series was the 15th edition of the international baseball tournament. It was held in San Jose, Costa Rica, from April 7 to 21, 1961. It was the first AW Series since 1953 and the first major baseball event since the 1957 Global World Series in Detroit. It was also the first international tournament to include a Cuban team after the Cuban Revolution, and it happened while U.S.-backed anti-C Castro exiles were involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Ten countries competed, divided into two groups. The top three teams from each group moved to the final round. Cuba, led by Clemente Carreras (who had also managed in the 1952 AW Series), joined the competition after Cuba’s sports reorganization following the revolution. Venezuela was considered the favorite, with a team mainly from the Intendencia Naval amateur club, managed by José Manuel Tovar.
Group A saw Panama go 4-0, with Venezuela at 3-1 and Costa Rica at 2-2. In Group B, Cuba went 4-0 and Mexico 3-1 to advance easily. The teams of Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Netherlands Antilles each finished 1-3 and had to play an extra series to determine who would reach the final round; Guatemala defeated Nicaragua 6-5 and the Netherlands Antilles 8-1 to advance.
In the final round, Cuba remained undefeated, beating Panama 12-3, Guatemala 13-2, Mexico 13-1, Costa Rica 12-2, and Venezuela 9-3. Mexico finished second, Venezuela third, and Panama fourth; Guatemala and Costa Rica also competed in the final round but finished lower.
Cuban pitchers Alfredo Street (3-0) and Jose M. Pineda (2-0) starred, with Pineda allowing only one run and one walk in 18 innings and recording 27 strikeouts. Several Cuban players drew major league scouts’ attention. Bert Campaneris, Tito Fuentes, and José Miguel Pineda signed major league contracts; Campaneris and Fuentes went on to long MLB careers, while Pineda chose to remain in Cuba.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:15 (CET).