Baseball World Cup
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| Most recent season or competition: 2011 Baseball World Cup |
|
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1938 |
| No. of teams | 16 (in 2011) |
| Continent | International |
| Most recent champion(s) |  Netherlands |
| Most titles |  Cuba (25 times) |
The Baseball World Cup was an international tournament in which national baseball teams from around the world competed. It was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). Along with the World Baseball Classic, it was 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 while baseball was an Olympic sport.[2]
The Baseball World Cup was discontinued in favor of an expanded World Baseball Classic tournament. The IBAF will sanction two brand new tournaments: the 21 and Under World Cup in 2014 and a senior tournament involving the best 12 teams of the world called the WBSC Premier12 in 2015.[3]
History
There have been 38 Baseball World Cups to date and the last World Cup was held 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. Until 1988, the Amateur World Series was held in intervals of one to four years, except for the eight-year period from 1953–61. From 1988 to 2001, the Baseball World Cup was held in intervals of two to four years. After 2001, the tournament was held every two years.
Until 1998 the competition was limited to amateur players. After 1998, professional minor league players 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 existed and had 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
Medal table
| Rank | Country | Gold  |
Silver  |
Bronze  |
Total  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuba |
25 | 4 | 2 | 31 |
| 2 |  United States |
4 | 8 | 3 | 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 |
See also
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- Women's Baseball World Cup
- Baseball awards
- Baseball at the Summer Olympics
- Intercontinental Cup (International Baseball Federation (IBAF))
- World Baseball Classic
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Congress approved a new format of International tournaments
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baseball World Cup. |
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International baseball
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| WBSC Events |
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| Minor World Events | ||
| Defunct World Events |
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