Baseball World Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the "World Baseball Classic", see World Baseball Classic.
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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Tournament Results
[edit] Most successful countries
Cuba
Gold: 25
(1939 1940 1942 1943 1950 1952 1953 1961 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1978 1980 1984 1986 1988 1990 1994 1998 2001 2003 2005)
Silver: 2 (1941 2007)
Bronze: 2 (1944 1951)
United States
Gold: 3 (1973 1974 2007)
Silver: 8 (1938 1940[1] 1969 1970 1972 1978 1988 2001)
Bronze: 3 (1939 1982 1984)
Venezuela
Gold: 3 (1941 1944 1945)
Silver: 2 (1951 1953)
Bronze: 4 (1942 1950 1961 1973)
Colombia
Gold: 2 (1947 1965)
Silver: 2 (1945 1971)
Bronze: 2 (1948 1974)
South Korea
Gold: 1 (1982)
Silver: 5 (1980 1986 1994 1998 2005)
Bronze: 2 (1978 1990)
Puerto Rico
Gold: 1 (1951)
Silver: 4 (1947 1948 1973[2] 1976)
Bronze: 4 (1952 1965 1970 1973[2])
Dominican Republic
Gold: 1 (1948)
Silver: 3 (1942 1950 1952)
Bronze: 2 (1943 1969)
Great Britain
Gold: 1 (1938*)
Silver: 0
Bronze: 0
Nicaragua
Gold: 0
Silver: 5 (1939 1940[1] 1973 1974 1990)
Bronze: 5 (1947 1953 1971 1972 1998)
Mexico
Gold: 0
Silver: 4 (1943 1944 1961 1965)
Bronze: 1 (1941)
Japan
Gold: 0
Silver: 1 (1982)
Bronze: 5 (1976 1980 1994 2003 2007)
Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
Gold: 0
Silver: 1 (1984)
Bronze: 3 (1986 1988 2001)
Panama
Gold: 0
Silver: 1 (2003)
Bronze: 2 (1945 2005)
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b In 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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