But since the rules of baseball require nine players in the lineup and since the pitching staff probably wouldn't appreciate all nine of them playing infield the Mets needed to come to a resolution.

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Under section 10.22(a) of the Official Baseball Rules, he would win the batting title if an extra hitless at-bat is added to his average and it remained higher than that of any other qualifying player.

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He was stripped of those medals though for violating the Olympic rules on amateurism when it was revealed he played two years of semi-pro baseball.

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More than any other team, Spain embodies one of the enduring quirks of the tournament, which is now in its third edition: Loose rules that allow fringe countries to compensate for a lack of baseball talent by signing just about anyone who could remotely identify with them.

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