Omar Linares
 Omar Linares, Alfredo Despaigne and Yoenis Céspedes (left to right) |
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| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's baseball | ||
Representing  Cuba
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| Olympic Games | ||
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1992 Barcelona | Team |
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1996 Atlanta | Team |
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2000 Sydney | Team |
| Pan American Games | ||
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1991 Havana | Team |
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1995 Mar del Plata | Team |
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1999 Winnipeg | Team |
| Baseball World Cup | ||
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1994 Managua | Team |
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2001 Taipei | Team |
| Intercontinental Cup | ||
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1997 Barcelona | Team |
| Goodwill Games | ||
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1990 Seattle | Team |
Omar Linares Izquierdo (born October 23, 1967 in San Juan y Martínez, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba) is a former Cuban baseball player. Linares, who played third base for the Cuban national team and for Pinar del Río and Vegueros in the Cuban National Series wearing the number 10 on his jersey, is considered one of the greatest Cuban players of all time. Linares's first steps in the world of sports were as a track and field athlete where he was considered a promising star at a young age. Linares soon decided to follow the steps of his father Fidel Linares in the world of baseball. He is well known in Cuba for having started a baseball career at a very young age. It is to Cuban baseball broadcaster Bobby Salamanca to whom it is attributed the popularity of Linares's nickname "El Niño" (The Kid) after Linares impressed Salamanca with his baseball skills as a teen being called to the roster of Cuban national team being only 17, it is to former manager Jose Miguel Pineda that Linares attributes the authority of his nickname in 1982. After a career as a player in Cuba, Linares along with other Cuban baseball stars such as Antonio Pacheco, Orestes Kindelan and German Mesa in coordination with the Cuban national baseball commission decided to give it a try in the Nippon Professional Baseball. Linares went on to spending three unproductive seasons with the Chunichi Dragons wearing the number 44 on his jersey to later after return to Cuba. In 2009 Linares decided to become a batting coach and first base coach for longtime rival team Industriales helping them to conquer a national championship (his first as an assistant coach). Although Linares never received an official retiring ceremony, the season of 2001–2002 is considered to be his last appearance in Cuban National Baseball Series.
Linares spent 20 seasons with Pinar del Río in Cuba's National Series, compiling a career .368 batting average, the best in the league's history, with 404 home runs (third among all-times in Cuban league), 1,547 runs batted in and 264 stolen bases.
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