Miguel Caldés

Miguel Caldés Luis

• Height 6' 1", Weight 187 lb.

• Born September 27, 1970 in Ciego de Ávila, Ciego de Ávila Cuba
• Died December 4, 2000 in Saratoga, Camagüey Cuba

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Biographical Information

Miguel Caldés was a two-time Olympic Medalist who died tragically the year of his second Medal.

Caldés hit 12 homers for Camagüey in the 1991-1992 Serie Nacional, leading the eastern division. He debuted for the Cuban national team in the 1993 Intercontinental Cup, backing up Omar Linares at third base. In his lone at-bat in the event, he ground into a double play. He handled two chances with no errors.

In 1994-1995, Miguel led the Cuban Serie Nacional with 20 home runs, a franchise record tied in 2009-2010 by Dary Bartolome. Caldés was the starting left fielder for Cuba in the 1996 Olympics, hitting .324/.378/.618 with 3 homers, 10 runs and 13 RBI in 9 games as they won Gold. He was 3 for 4 with 2 runs and a RBI in the Gold Medal game win over Japan.

Caldés hit .313/.294/.594 in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup with 3 homers in 9 games; only Orestes Kindelan hit more homers for the Cuban squad. He was 3 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBI in the semifinal win over Team USA. In the Gold Medal game, he was 1 for 4 against Koji Uehara and Hitoshi Miyata as Cuba fell 11-2, the first tournament they failed to win in 15 years. Miguel tied Pat Burrell and Juan Manrique for 5th in the event in home runs, trailing Greg Jelks, Kindelan, Paul Gonzalez and Yoshinobu Takahashi.

In the 2000 Olympics, Caldés batted .333/.333/.433, with only 4 RBI and no homers in 8 games as Cuba's right fielder. He did score 8 runs to tie Linares for the team lead, one shy of tourney leader Mike Neill. He was 0 for 3 in the Gold Medal game loss to Ben Sheets and the USA. Tragically, Miguel's life ended only three months later when he died in a car accident at age 30.

Caldés played 14 seasons in Cuba, hitting .289/.358/.472 with 176 home runs in 4,219 AB (25 HR per 600 AB).

Sources

• 2005 Guia Official de Beisbol
• Defunct IBAF site
• A History of Cuban Baseball by Peter Bjarkman

Related Sites

• Olympedia page