Baseball World Cup

The Baseball World Cup is an international tournament in which national baseball teams from around the world compete. It is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation.

History

There have been 36 Baseball World Cups to date; the first tournament, held in 1938, featured only two teams but the last five have all featured 16 teams. The World Cup was called the Amateur World Series until the tournament in 1988. The most recent World Cup was held in 2007 in the Chinese Taipei. The tournament generally receives relatively little publicity and does not begin to approach the popularity of the football (soccer) World Cup, cricket World Cup or rugby World Cup. Until 1996 the competition was limited to amateur players. Since 1996, professional minor league players have competed, but Major League Baseball has not allowed its players to participate. In the months leading up to the high-profile first World Baseball Classic, many commentators heralded it as a "Baseball World Cup", perhaps not realizing that a tournament of that description already exists and has for almost seventy years. However, the World Baseball Classic was the first international baseball tournament to include players from the major leagues, making it a closer equivalent to the other world cups, which include players from the most prestigious professional leagues, than the Baseball World Cup.

Tournament Results

Most successful countries

flagicon|CUB Cuba

Gold: 25

(1939 1940 19421943 1950 19521953 1961 19691970 1971 19721973 1976 1978 1980 1984 19861988 1990 19941998 2001 20032005)

Silver: 2(1941 2007)

Bronze: 2(1944 1951)

flagicon|USA United States

Gold: 3(1973 1974 2007)

Silver: 8(1938 1940In 1940 both Nicaragua and the USA won silver medals. There was no bronze medal team.] 19691970 1972 19781988 2001)

Bronze: 3(1939 1982 1984)

flagicon|VEN Venezuela

Gold: 3(1941 1944 1945)

Silver: 2(1951 1953)

Bronze: 4(1942 1950 19611973)

flagicon|COL Colombia

Gold: 2(1947 1965)

Silver: 2(1945 1971)

Bronze: 2(1948 1974)

flagicon|KOR South Korea

Gold: 1(1982)

Silver: 5(1980 1986 19941998 2005)

Bronze: 2(1978 1990)

flagicon|PRI Puerto Rico

Gold: 1(1951)

Silver: 4(1947 19481973In 1973, there were two different World Cups, one in Nicaragua,and the other in Cuba. That is why Puerto Rico won both a silver and a bronze medal that year.] 1976)

Bronze: 4(1952 1965 19701973)

flagicon|DOM Dominican Republic

Gold: 1(1948)

Silver: 3(1942 1950 1952)

Bronze: 2(1943 1969)

flagicon|GBR Great Britain

Gold: 1(1938*)

Silver: 0

Bronze: 0

flagicon|NIC Nicaragua

Gold: 0

Silver: 5(1939 1940 19731974 1990)

Bronze: 5(1947 1953 19711972 1998)

flagicon|MEX Mexico

Gold: 0

Silver: 4(1943 1944 19611965)

Bronze: 1(1941)

flagicon|JPN Japan

Gold: 0

Silver: 1(1982)

Bronze: 5(1976 1980 19942003 2007)

flagicon|TPE Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)

Gold: 0

Silver: 1(1984)

Bronze: 3(1986 1988 2001)

flagicon|PAN Panama

Gold: 0

Silver: 1(2003)

Bronze: 2(1945 2005)

Notes and references

ee also

* Baseball at the Summer Olympics
* Women's Baseball World Cup
* World Baseball Classic
* World Series
* World Cup

External links

* [http://www.baseball.ch/2003/t/wc/wc.htm International Baseball Federation Baseball World Cup home page]
* [http://www.wkhonkbal.nl/index.php?taal=eng 2005 Baseball World Cup]