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 (IBAF). Along with the World Baseball Classic, it is one of two active tournaments considered by the IBAF to be a major world championship.[1] (The baseball tournament at the Summer Olympic Games was also considered a major world championship, but baseball is no longer an Olympic sport.)[2]
History
There have been 38 Baseball World Cups to date and the most recent World Cup was held in 2009 in eight countries across Europe. The first tournament, held in 1938, featured only two teams but the last tournament included 22 participants, and the previous two have featured 16 and 18 teams in 2007 and 2005 respectively. The World Cup was called the Amateur World Series until the tournament in 1988. 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 1998 the competition was limited to amateur players. Since 1998, 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 in 2006, 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 2006 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
Awards
- See the "Awards" section on each tournament's individual page.
Medal table
See also
References
External links
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International Baseball |
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| Major World Events |
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| Minor World Events |
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| Defunct World Events |
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| Africa |
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| Americas |
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| Asia |
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| Europe |
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| Oceania |
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| IBAF • World Rankings |
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United States
Cuba (25 times)
Venezuela
Colombia
South Korea
Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic
Great Britain
Nicaragua
Mexico
Japan
Chinese Taipei
Panama
Canada
