rFederation Name: British Baseball Federation
Federation President: Darrin Muller – “Interim Presiding Officer”
Elite League: National Baseball League
Team Manager: Stephan Rapaglia
Federation Web Link: www.britishbaseball.org
Great Britain 2009 IBAF Baseball World Cup Roster
Current world rank: 25
Best World Cup result (year(s)): 1st (1938)
Most recent World Cup (result): 1938 (1st)
How it advanced to World Cup: Qualified through 2007 European Championships
Most recent international competition (result): 2007 European Championships (2nd place)
2009 IBAF Baseball World Cup Player Stats and Current Team Links:
Interview with GB Manager Stephan Rapaglia
The Mission and Vision for British Baseball to 2020 and Beyond
Our Mission
ORGANISE, DEVELOP AND PROMOTE BASEBALL ACROSS BRITAIN AS A PARTICIPATORY SPORT AND REPRESENT THE COUNTRY INTERNATIONALLY
Our Vision is built on five core principles defines where we want to be tells us what success looks like, so that when we achieve it we will be able to recognise it allows us to focus upon the actions that get us closer to where we want to be provides evidence both within and outside our sport as to our values and principles
Baseball is for Everyone
We are committed to making baseball an inclusive and welcoming sport for all irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity or ability. We will seek to provide a wide range of opportunities for all individuals to participate, enjoy and succeed in baseball whether as a recreational pastime or a competitive passion
Youth is Our Future
We acknowledge the central importance of engaging, retaining and nurturing youth participation and we are committed to providing a pathway from youth to adult baseball.
Jerry Springer Visits the London Mets
Jerry Springer once said, “All of us, whether or not we're celebrities, every one ought to spend part of their life making someone else's life better.” Indeed, the sixty-five year old television host lived up to his own teachings by bringing his affection for baseball and his umpiring skills to a London baseball game. Not only did Mr. Springer’s presence spice up the competition between the opposing teams London Metros and Essex Arrows, but also he demonstrated his own baseball abilities by joining in batting practice during half-time.
The history behind the London Metro is quite fascinating. In 1988, a man named Ralph Pitchford went to America in search of a good vacation spot, but instead came across an interesting game involving a bat and a ball. After returning to Great Britain, he introduced this American pastime to his coworkers, who enjoyed it so much that they convinced their boss to sponsor a work team named “Millions.” However, after they left this particular company, their source of money and support disappeared, but despite financial difficulties, nobody wanted to quit playing baseball. After exchanging a few ideas and realizing that there were much too many participants for one team, the original “Millionaires” created the Meteors Baseball and Softball Club, with the Meteors and Meteorites as its two counterparts.
As interest began to grow, the Meteors Club came to incorporate a “variety of mixed slow pitch, single sex slow pitch, and fast pitch teams, and now has the most successful youth baseball club in the UK.” It was this specific youth division – the London Mets Youth Baseball and Softball Club – that caught the eye of Jerry Springer, as he commented, “To run a youth program reaching 6500 kids a year in inner city London is great. To do it with volunteers and almost no funding is amazing." Sure enough, the influence of the London Mets is astonishingly wide-spread, including a selection of groups for participants ranging from age seven to twenty-five and also a school related segment that involved 2500 children in 2007.
The secret behind such a large institution is in fact not so secretive; those who are in charge of the London Mets Club, in addition to those who participate in the program, all love baseball. This dedication has translated into victories on the field, with many wins spread out among its multiple teams and the London Mets Pony winning the 2007 BBF National Championship. Additionally, two awards - the Haringey Sports Club of the Year and the 2007 CCPR Sports Club of the Year – were given to the London Mets. As we can see, what binds these club players together is a sincere sense of fondness for baseball, and as long as these feelings last – which they will – the London Mets would be kept strong.
After all that, let us turn our attention to the Essex Arrows, another popular baseball club located in Waltham Abbey. This team is exceptionally strong, with a season record of 20-0 after defeating the London Metros. This non-ending achievement has everything to do with the players’ fierce fighting spirit, with their motto being, “When we play baseball, we don’t play, we do battle.” Such ferocity is emphasized by their name, behind which there is an extremely fitting tale.
Circa 1050, there was a king in England named Harold II, who was the last ruler before the Normandie Invasions and the rebuilder of a church in Waltham Abbey. It was said that Harold II died in the Battle of Hastings, famously shot in the eye by an arrow while bravely protecting his kingdom against William the Conqueror. Because of this death by arrow, and because of King Harold’s connection to Waltham Abbey, the name of “Arrows” was chosen for the Essex Baseball Club in order to emphasize one particular goal: to channel Harold’s determination and to preserve his pride in their heritage. So now, whenever the Essex Arrows step onto the field, they become warriors like their ancestors once were. But instead of shields and coats of arms, each fighter carries with him or her a glove, a bat, and a heart beating the phrase, “I am baseball.”
The Great Britain National Baseball Team: 1907-2007
by Josh Chetwynd
As early as the 1890s, Great Britain baseball was taking on the world. In August 1892, a publication called English Sports wrote about a pair of matches between New York amateurs and Preston North End, a baseball team affiliated with football in that area. Three years later, teams from Derby and Stockton took on a squad from the US called "Boston Amateur" in what The Times dubbed "an international game of baseball between Englishmen and Americans."
Over time, Great Britain evolved from merely putting up club teams (or a combination of a couple of different clubs) against foreign foes to selecting a national team to represent the whole country. The early signs of a Great Britain representative squad emerged as early as 1907 when the British Baseball Association hosted a game between "English-born" and "American-born" players. In 1927, a series of games were contested at Stamford Bridge between an "All-British" team and an "All-American" squad.
In the 1930s, the sport began to flourish as professional leagues emerged in Yorkshire, Lancashire and London with some teams drawing more than 10,000 fans for big match-ups. Great Britain's crowning moment came in 1938, when Team England, which would later be referred to as a Great Britain side, beat the US on home soil by four games to one.
The 1938 triumph was a testament to the development of play in the country. The event was described in the 13 August 1938 edition of the Yorkshire Sports and Football Argus as "the first baseball test match" in the UK. Later, it would be dubbed the inaugural World Amateur Championships with Great Britain its winner. More baseball glory might have come Great Britain's way the following year when a team was selected to travel to Cuba to play in the second World Cup. But lack of funds forced Great Britain to stay at home. Any hope for an immediate return to the world baseball stage was, of course, dashed by the outbreak of World War II. Still, during the war, Americans stationed in the UK often played baseball and there were even some examples of Great Britain teams joining in. For example, in July 1943, there were ads placed in the Liverpool Echo publicizing a series of games between the "American Nite Sticks" and "Alf Hanson's All-England Nine" team. Nevertheless, the war clearly drew attention away from re-forming a true national squad.
Following the war, baseball remained part of the sports landscape but had lost some of its momentum. Chuck Cole, a player from that era, tells how baseball was included at the Festival of Britain exhibition in London in 1951. While baseball was demonstrated for some four to five weeks during that summer, he only remembers "one or two enquiries" about playing. Still, there were instances of representative squads playing in this decade. In 1952, there were three events between England (a Great Britain squad had yet to be formed) and foreign teams. This included a British representative squad going abroad to The Netherlands to play as part of the Dutch Jubilee Celebration. Because of the ongoing presence of Allied troops throughout Great Britain, baseball did continue to have vibrant domestic competition between clubs made up of mixed-nationality sides. So much so, that in the 16 July 1953 issue of Baseball News, "a News Sheet of Baseball, published by the South Eastern Baseball League," ran this editorial about the future of a national team:
International Future?
This progress of English baseball could enable us to hold our own with other countries in International games, and with the formation of the European Baseball Federation (in 1953), it is obvious that baseball is becoming internationally minded. As the birth-place of baseball in far off days, let it not be said that England is to be among the "also rans" of a sport that hopes to gain Olympic recognition.
But, by the latter half of the 1950s, international competitions mainly involved Great Britain clubs and all-star teams playing US military personnel. Teams from Hull, for instance, took on the US Navy (1958) and an American Air Force team called the Chelveston Cowboys (1959). In 1960, Great Britain joined the seven-year-old European Baseball Federation, which is today known as the Confederation of European Baseball. Great Britain was the eighth nation to enter the organization. Although at least one Great Britain squad played a friendly game in the five years following the country's entry into the federation, it wasn't until 1967 that a Great Britain national team competed in a European Championships. That team fared well, winning the silver medal in Belgium (albeit in the absence of European baseball powerhouses Italy and The Netherlands, who didn't participate).
Yet even after that triumph, British baseball was too regionally fragmented to put together a consistent, cohesive national squad. International play in 1969 was emblematic of the factional nature of the game in that period. Representative teams from both South Africa and Zambia travelled to Great Britain for a series of games. Instead of British baseball's governing body forming a single representative squad, various regions put up all-star teams against the foreign competition. When Zambia came, the country played all-star teams from the Midlands, the North-East and the North-West along with various club teams. The South Africans competed against the National League Southern All-Stars in London and then played against the National League Northern All-Stars in Hull.
The matter didn't seem to get much better throughout the 1970s. Schisms between organizers of baseball in the North and the South occurred, according to some officials of the time. A few of Great Britain's past national teams have reflected this as only players from one section of the country were represented. For instance, the squad that went out to Italy to compete in the 1971 European Championships essentially comprised players from just the North and the Midlands; a solitary victory, over Sweden, led to a seventh-place finish.
Nevertheless, there have been highlights - particularly once the Great Britain national programme became more organized in the 1980s. At that time, Don Smallwood, president of the British Amateur Baseball and Softball Federation, underscored the importance of a national team. "The need to have an International team is, I feel, very important for the growth of the sport," he wrote in First Base magazine's Autumn 1986 edition. "To wear the uniform of your country must be the pinnacle for every athlete and provides that incentive to achieve excellence in every sport."
Since then, Great Britain has won the European B-pool Championships twice - in 1988 and 1996 - and, in 2007, made an exemplary showing at the European Championships winning the silver medal ahead of such traditional powers as Italy and Spain. The squad has also included its share of stand-out individual performers. In 2001, pitcher Gavin Marshall, who represented Great Britain at the senior level from 1993 to 1999, became the first player born and bred in the UK to sign a professional contract in the US. Other players, like infielder Alan Bloomfield and pitcher Brian Thurston, have had long distinguished international careers for Great Britain.
The British Baseball Federation
The British Baseball Federation (BBF) is the national governing body of baseball within the United Kingdom, founded in 1987.
BBF is a federated member of both the Confederation of European Baseball and the International Baseball Federation. BBF is the joint owner (with the British Softball Federation) of BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK), a sports development agency.
The voting members of BBF are the affiliated baseball clubs, life members and the umpires, scorers and coaches associations. The BBF holds an annual general meeting each spring at which the voting members elect an executive board of 11 officials to oversee the body and the sport. All participants (players, coaches, managers, umpires, scorers, etc) with affiliated clubs and the associations are members of the BBF.
Youth Baseball: There are organised leagues at 10 - 13 and 14 to 16 age ranges. Additionally, British Baseball supports the Play Ball programme run by BaseballSoftballUK which introduces children from 8 to 12 to bat & ball games, usually through school or a local Play Ball scheme. There are also Great Britain national teams for youth players (Cadets under 16s, and Juniors under 19s), as well as an off-season British Baseball Academy for youth players and coaches.
Adult Baseball: There are a number of leagues and divisions, split by ability and geographical location. These range from the highly competitive to the recreational.
In 2008 there were 38 clubs, with 67 league teams, as members of the BBF. There are also a number of non-league clubs and teams affiliated to British Baseball.
British Baseball also oversees the national team of Great Britain.
Previous National Champions
2008 | London Mets |
| 1970 | Hull Royals |
2007 | London Mets |
| 1969 | Watford-Sun Rockets |
2006 | Richmond Flames |
| 1968 | Hull Aces |
2005 | Croydon Pirates |
| 1967 | Liverpool Yankees |
2004 | Croydon Pirates |
| 1966 | Stretford Saints |
2003 | Windsor Bears |
| 1965 | Hull Aces |
2002 | Brighton Buccaneers |
| 1964 | Hull Aces |
2001 | Brighton Buccaneers |
| 1963 | East Hull Aces |
2000 | London Warriors |
| 1962 | Liverpool Tigers |
1999 | Brighton Buccaneers |
| 1961 | Liverpool Tigers |
1998 | Menwith Hill Patriots |
| 1960 | Thames Board Mills |
1997 | London Warriors |
| 1959 | Thames Board Mills |
1996 | Menwith Hill Patriots |
| 1951 | Burtonwood Bees |
1995 | Humberside Mets |
| 1950 | Burtonwood Bees |
1994 | Humberside Mets |
| 1949 | Hornsey Red Sox |
1993 | Humberside Mets |
| 1948 | Liverpool Robins |
1992 | Leeds City Royals |
| 1939 | Halifax |
1991 | Enfield Spartans |
| 1938 | Rochdale Greys |
1990 | Enfield Spartans |
| 1937 | Hull |
1989 | London Warriors |
| 1936 | White City London |
1988 | Cobham Yankees |
| 1935 | New London |
1987 | Cobham Yankees |
| 1934 | Hatfield Liverpool |
1986 | Cobham Yankees |
| 1911 | Leyton |
1985 | Hull Mets |
| 1910 | Brentford |
1984 | Croydon Blue Jays |
| 1909 | Clapton Orient |
1983 | Cobham Yankees |
| 1908 | Tottenham Hotspur |
1982 | London Warriors |
| 1907 | Clapton Orient |
1981 | London Warriors |
| 1906 | Tottenham Hotspur |
1980 | Liverpool Trojans |
| 1899 | Nottingham Forest |
1979 | Golders Green Sox |
| 1898 | Derby |
1978 | Liverpool Trojans |
| 1897 | Derby |
1977 | Golders Green Sox |
| 1896 | Wallsend-On-Tyne |
1976 | Liverpool Trojans |
| 1895 | Derby |
1975 | Liverpool Tigers |
| 1894 | Thespian London |
1974 | Nottingham Lions |
| 1893 | Thespian London |
1973 | Burtonwood Yanks |
| 1892 | Middlesborough |
1972 | Hull Aces |
| 1890 | Preston North End |
1971 | Liverpool Tigers |
