Baseball World Cup

International baseball competition

This article is about the baseball world championship organized until 2011. For the current world championship organized from 2013, see World Baseball Classic.

Baseball World CupMost recent season or competition:
2011 Baseball World Cup

The John Moores Trophy awarded in 1938

Sport| Baseball
Founded| 1938
Ceased| 2011
No. of teams| 16 (in 2011)
Continent| International
Last
champion(s)|  Netherlands
Most titles|  Cuba (25 titles)
WBSC Championships

Amateur World Series

* 1938
* 1939
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944
* 1945
* 1947
* 1948
* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1961
* 1965
* 1969
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973 (Cuba)
* 1973 (Nicaragua)
* 1974
* 1976
* 1978
* 1980
* 1982
* 1984
* 1986

Baseball World Cup

* 1988
* 1990
* 1994
* 1998
* 2001
* 2003
* 2005
* 2007
* 2009
* 2011

WBSC Premier12

* 2015
* 2019
* 2024
* 2027

World Baseball Classic

WBSC World Championship since 2013

* 2006
* 2009
* 2013
* 2017
* 2023
* 2026

* v
* t
* e

The Baseball World Cup (BWC) was an international baseball tournament for national teams around the world, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). First held in 1938 as the Amateur World Series (AWS), it was, for most of its history, the highest level of international baseball competition in the world. Even after it was supplanted in this regard in 2006 by the modern World Baseball Classic (WBC), the Baseball World Cup was still considered by the IBAF to be a major world championship, along with the WBC and the Summer Olympic Games.[1][2]

After the 2011 tournament, the Baseball World Cup was discontinued in favor of an expanded World Baseball Classic; the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) – successor to the IBAF – now organizes the WBC and awards its winner the title of "World Champion."[3] Additionally, the WBSC sanctions two new tournaments: the biennial 23U Baseball World Cup (begun as the 21U Baseball World Cup in 2014) and its quadrennial, flagship tournament, the WBSC Premier12 (starting in 2015), which involves the twelve best-ranked national teams in the world.[4]

## History

[edit]

The Baseball World Cup was held 38 times; the final one was in 2011 in Panama. The first tournament, held in 1938, featured only two teams, but the last tournament included 22 participants; the previous two featured 16 and 18 teams (in 2007 and 2005, respectively). The World Cup was originally called the Amateur World Series, until the tournament in 1988.

The idea of a baseball competition for national teams was championed by International Baseball Federation (IBF) president Leslie Mann. After managing to include baseball as a demonstration sport at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Mann sought to organize an international tournament in 1937 between the national teams of the United States and Japan; this plan was derailed by the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War that same year.[5] Instead, Mann wrote to John Moores, president of the British National Baseball Association (the precursor to the modern British Baseball Federation) to organize a tournament between the U.S. and Great Britain teams. The 1938 "John Moores Cup," as it was originally called, would be retroactively recognized as the first Amateur World Series.[6]

Mann, along with Cuban sports administrator Jaime Mariné, helped turn the Amateur World Series into an annual event in 1939, this time held in Cuba.[7][8] The first and second tournaments featured only two and three national teams, respectively, but seven participants were invited to the 1940 edition and the pool would only expand from there.

Lourdes Gurriel at the 1986 AWS

For much of its early existence, the competition was limited to the nations of Central America and the Caribbean; the United States withdrew early from the 1942 series, and would not return until 1969. The next edition, in 1970, saw two European national teams (Italy and the Netherlands) participate for the first time; in 1972, Japan became the first Asian country to participate in the global baseball tournament.

Until 1998 the competition was limited to strictly amateur players. After 1998, professional minor league players competed, but Major League Baseball did not allow its players to participate. In the months leading up to the high-profile first World Baseball Classic in 2006, many commentators heralded it as a "Baseball World Cup", perhaps not realizing that a tournament of that description already existed and had for almost seventy years.

However, the 2006 World Baseball Classic was the first international baseball tournament to include active players from the top-level major leagues around the world — namely Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball — making it a closer equivalent to the world cups of other sports, which commonly include players from the most prestigious professional leagues, than to the mostly-amateur Baseball World Cup.

## Trophy

[edit]

The champions of the first several Amateur World Series tournaments were presented the John Moores Trophy, named in honor of John Moores, a sponsor of the British Baseball Federation and future Everton F.C. executive.[9] Like the Stanley Cup, it was a single trophy passed from winner to winner, with the names of the world champions engraved; however, only the winners of the 1938, 1939, and 1940 editions are engraved (England and Cuba); the United States withdrew from the AWS in 1942, and the trophy was apparently not awarded after that.[10][11][a]

When Jaime Mariné succeeded Leslie Mann as president of the IBF during the 1940 Amateur World Series, he renamed the trophy the Copa Presidente Batista, after Fulgencio Batista, the president of Cuba.[12] Mariné had participated in the Cuban Revolution of 1933 that brought Batista to power and had organized the dictator's Military Intelligence Service in 1935.[13]

## Tournament results

[edit]

Year  | Final Host  |  | Final four  |  | Number of teams

|
|
|
|
|

Champions  | Runners-up  | 3rd place  | 4th place
Amateur World Series
1938
Details |
Great Britain |  |
Great Britain |
United States | –  | –  |  | 2
1939
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Nicaragua |
United States | –  | 3
1940
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Nicaragua |
United States |
Venezuela | 7
1941
Details |
Cuba |
Venezuela |
Cuba |
Mexico |
Panama | 9
1942
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Dominican Republic |
Venezuela |
Mexico | 5
1943
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Mexico |
Dominican Republic |
Panama | 4
1944
Details |
Venezuela |
Venezuela |
Mexico |
Cuba |
Panama | 8
1945
Details |
Venezuela |
Venezuela |
Colombia |
Panama |
Nicaragua | 6
1947
Details |
Colombia |
Colombia |
Puerto Rico |
Nicaragua |
Mexico | 9
1948
Details |
Nicaragua |
Dominican Republic |
Puerto Rico |
Colombia |
Mexico | 8
1950
Details |
Nicaragua |
Cuba |
Dominican Republic |
Venezuela |
Panama | 12
1951
Details |
Mexico |
Puerto Rico |
Venezuela |
Cuba |
Dominican Republic | 11
1952
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Dominican Republic |
Puerto Rico |
Panama | 13
1953
Details |
Venezuela |
Cuba |
Venezuela |
Nicaragua |
Dominican Republic | 11
1961
Details |
Costa Rica |
Cuba |
Mexico |
Venezuela |
Panama | 10
1965
Details |
Colombia |
Colombia |
Mexico |
Puerto Rico |
Panama | 9
1969
Details |
Dominican Republic |
Cuba |
United States |
Dominican Republic |
Venezuela | 11
1970
Details |
Colombia |
Cuba |
United States |
Puerto Rico |
Colombia | 12
1971
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Colombia |
Nicaragua |
Puerto Rico | 10
1972
Details |
Nicaragua |
Cuba |
United States |
Nicaragua |
Japan | 16
1973
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Puerto Rico |
Venezuela |
Dominican Republic | 8
1973
Details |
Nicaragua |
United States |
Nicaragua |
Puerto Rico |
Colombia | 11
1974
Details |
United States |
United States |
Nicaragua |
Colombia |
Dominican Republic | 9
1976
Details |
Colombia |
Cuba |
Puerto Rico |
Japan |
Nicaragua | 11
1978
Details |
Italy |
Cuba |
United States |
South Korea |
Japan | 11
1980
Details |
Japan |
Cuba |
South Korea |
Japan |
United States | 12
1982
Details |
South Korea |
South Korea |
Japan |
United States |
Chinese Taipei | 10
1984
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Chinese Taipei |
United States |
Japan | 13
1986
Details |
Netherlands |
Cuba |
South Korea |
Chinese Taipei |
United States | 12
Baseball World Cup
1988
Details |
Italy |  |
Cuba |
United States |
Chinese Taipei |
Japan |  | 12
1990
Details |
Canada |
Cuba |
Nicaragua |
South Korea |
Puerto Rico | 12
1994
Details |
Nicaragua |
Cuba |
South Korea |
Japan |
Nicaragua | 16
1998
Details |
Italy |
Cuba |
South Korea |
Nicaragua |
Italy | 16
2001
Details |
Taiwan |
Cuba |
United States |
Chinese Taipei |
Japan | 16
2003
Details |
Cuba |
Cuba |
Panama |
Japan |
Chinese Taipei | 16
2005
Details |
Netherlands |
Cuba |
South Korea |
Panama |
Netherlands | 18
2007
Details |
Taiwan |
United States |
Cuba |
Japan |
Netherlands | 16
2009
Details |
Italy |
United States |
Cuba |
Canada |
Puerto Rico | 22
2011
Details |
Panama |
Netherlands |
Cuba |
Canada |
United States | 16

## Medal table

[edit]

Cuba won its first world championship in 1939 Rank  | Country  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze  | Total

|
|
|
|
|

1  |  Cuba | 25 | 4 | 2 | 31
2  |  United States | 4 | 7 | 4 | 15
3  |  Venezuela | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9
4  |  Colombia | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6
5  |  South Korea | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8
6  |  Puerto Rico | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9
7  |  Dominican Republic | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6
8  |  Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
8  |  Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
10  |  Nicaragua | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10
11  |  Mexico | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5
12  |  Japan | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6
13  |  Chinese Taipei | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4
14  |  Panama | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3
15  |  Canada | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2
Total | 39 | 39 | 38 | 116

## Individual honors

[edit]

### Most Valuable Player

[edit]

Year  | Player  | Position  | Ref.

|
|
|

1939 | —  | [14]
1939 |  Juan "Cocoliso" Torres | Outfielder | [14]
1940 |  Conrado Marrero | Pitcher | [14]
1941 |  José Antonio Casanova | Shortstop | [14]
1942 |  Andrés Fleitas | Catcher | [14]
1943 |  Pedro Jiménez | Pitcher | [14]
1944 | —  | [14]
1945 |  Héctor Benítez | Outfielder | [14]
1947 | —  | [14]
1948 |  Ramón del Monte | Pitcher | [14]
1950 |  Juan Izaguirre | Infielder | [14]
1951 | —  | [14]
1952 | —  | [14]
1953 |  Andrés Quintero | Pitcher | [14]
1961 | —  | [14]
1965 | —  | [14]
1969 |  Gaspar Perez | Pitcher | [14]
1970 |  Abel Leal | Outfielder | [14]
1971 |  Rodolfo Puente | Infielder | [14]
1972 | —  | [14]
1973
(XXI) |  Agustín Marquetti | Infielder | [14]
1973
(XXII) | —  | [14]
1974 | —  | [14]
1976 | —  | [14]
1978 |  Antonio Muñoz | First baseman | [14]
1980 |  Antonio Muñoz | First baseman | [14]
1980 |  Sun Dong-yol | Pitcher | [14]
1984 |  Víctor Mesa | Outfielder | [14]
1986 | —  | [14]
1988 |  Tino Martinez | First baseman | [14]
1990 |  Orestes Kindelán | First baseman | [14]
1994 |  Lourdes Gourriel | Outfielder | [14]
1998 |  Antonio Pacheco | Second baseman | [15]
2001 |  Luis Ulacia | Outfielder | [14]
2003 |  Takashi Yoshiura [ja] | Outfielder | [14]
2005 |  Eduardo Paret | Shortstop | [14]
2007 |  Jayson Nix | Infielder | [16]
2009 |  Justin Smoak | First baseman | [17]
2011 |  Curt Smith | First baseman | [18]

## See also

[edit]

* Baseball portal

* Women's Baseball World Cup
* Baseball awards#World
* Baseball at the Summer Olympics
* Intercontinental Cup
* International Amateur Baseball Tournament
* Global World Series
* WBSC Premier12
* World Baseball Classic

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ The John Moores Trophy does reflect two tournaments in 1950 and 1956, won by the United States and Hawaii, respectively, but these were not Amateur World Series.[11]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "IBAF World Ranking Notes" (PDF). International Baseball Federation. 13 January 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
2. ^ "Singapore 2005: 2012 Olympic Sport Vote". International Olympic Committee. 11 July 2005. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
3. ^ "Premier12 2019 Official Program - Page 6" (PDF). WBSC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
4. ^ The Congress approved a new format of International tournaments
5. ^ Guthrie-Shimizu, Sayuri (2012). Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War. University of North Carolina Press. p. 171\. ISBN 9780807882665.
6. ^ Leslie Mann (1940). Baseball Around the World. International Amateur Baseball Federation. pp. 19–26.
7. ^ "WBSC Headquarters: After decades of relocations, Switzerland is now the permanent home of international baseball". WBSC.org. World Baseball Softball Confederation.
8. ^ Mann, p. 26
9. ^ "Amateur World Series". WBSC.org. World Baseball Softball Confederation.
10. ^ Leslie Mann (1940). Baseball Around the World. International Amateur Baseball Federation.
11. ^ a b "Lot #52: THE JOHN MOORES TROPHY (1938)". SCP Auctions. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
12. ^ "THE HISTORY OF IBAF". Sporting Scribe. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
13. ^ Riccardo Schiroli (2019). The Game We Love. World Baseball Softball Confederation. p. 30.
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Bjarkman, Peter (2007). A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006. McFarland. pp. 195–210\. ISBN 0786428295.
15. ^ "XXXIII Baseball World Cup - XXXIII Copa del Mundo de Béisbol". Archived from the original on 14 February 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
16. ^ "Baseball World Cup: Allstar Team". Mister-Baseball.com. 19 November 2007. Archived from the original on 29 May 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
17. ^ "2009 Baseball World Cup Final Report" (PDF). Archived from the original on 29 May 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
18. ^ "The individual awards and the All Star Team of the World Cup". Retrieved 16 October 2011.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baseball World Cup.

* v
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Amateur World Series / Baseball World Cup

* Great Britain 1938
* Cuba 1939
* Cuba 1940
* Cuba 1941
* Cuba 1942
* Cuba 1943
* Venezuela 1944
* Venezuela 1945
* Colombia 1947
* Nicaragua 1948
* Nicaragua 1950
* Mexico 1951
* Cuba 1952
* Venezuela 1953
* Costa Rica 1961
* Colombia 1965
* Dominican Republic 1969
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* Cuba 1971
* Nicaragua 1972
* Cuba 1973
* Nicaragua 1973
* United States 1974
* Colombia 1976
* Italy 1978
* Japan 1980
* South Korea 1982
* Cuba 1984
* Netherlands 1986
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* Canada 1990
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Defunct World Events|

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Medal tables of Olympics, Paralympics and World Championships by sport

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Paralympic Games

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World
Championships

World Cups|

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Winter sports|

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* See also: World championships

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