Apolinar Cruz was a Nicaraguan baseball player and coach who spent almost 50 years associated with the sport. Cruz made his domestic début in 1973 with Estelí before going to play with multiple teams over the next 20 years. He was also a mainstay with the national team, playing at the 1982 Central American and Caribbean Games and the 1983 Pan American Games, winning silver at the latter. In 1984 baseball was played as a demonstration sport at the Los Angeles Olympics, with Cruz playing in the group stage matches against Canada, Japan, and South Korea. After his playing career he became a long-standing coach and was inducted into the Nicaraguan Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Nicaragua