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World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized by World Baseball Classic Inc., a partnership of the WBSC with Major League Baseball (MLB) and Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). The winning team is awarded the World Baseball Classic Championship Trophy. It is one of the two main senior baseball tournaments sanctioned by the WBSC, alongside the WBSC Premier12, but is the only one to grant the winner the title of "world champion".
The tournament, proposed in 2005 by MLB and its Players Association, was first held in 2006 as an invitational event. It previously coexisted with Olympic baseball (until 2008) and the Baseball World Cup (until 2011) as tournaments sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, the predecessor to the WBSC. The Baseball World Cup was discontinued after the 2011 edition, when the WBSC accepted an MLB suggestion to make the WBC the officially-sanctioned world championship, on the condition that the Classic should have direct qualifications and follow international anti-doping rules.
After a three-year gap between the first two installments of the tournament, plans were made for the World Baseball Classic to be repeated every four years following the 2009 event. The third installment of the Classic was held in 2013, and the fourth was held in 2017. The World Baseball Classic was held five times from 2006 to 2023, with Japan, the Dominican Republic, and the United States winning the championship. Japan, as of the 2023 tournament, is the only team to win the tournament multiple times.
The tournament is the first of its kind to have national teams featuring professional players from the top-level major leagues around the world, including Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In addition to providing a format for the best baseball players in the world to compete against one another while representing their home countries, the World Baseball Classic was created in order to further promote the game around the globe. As of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the tournament is one of the most viewed sporting events in the world.
Prior to the advent of the World Baseball Classic, there was no international baseball championship that saw universal participation from players across the globe. Outside the United States, the formally-recognized "world championship" was the Baseball World Cup, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and held 38 times from 1938 to 2011; it was known as the Amateur World Series until 1988. The inaugural 1938 Amateur World Series was contested by Great Britain and the United States over a series of five games from August 13 to 20 in England, and was won by Great Britain. Cuba was by far the most successful team at the Baseball World Cup, winning 25 of the 39 editions.
Baseball was also intermittently played at the Summer Olympic Games as early as 1912, although it was not recognized as an official demonstration sport until the 1984 Los Angeles Games. It would take another eight years, at the 1992 Games, for baseball to be accorded the status of a medal sport. In 2012 it was once again dropped from the Olympic program, appearing as an optional event in 2020.
For most of their history, the Olympics and Baseball World Cup were open only to amateur (i.e. non-professional) players; as a results, those participating in top-level professional baseball leagues in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere were not included. Although both competition formally rescinded their amateur-only status in the 1990s, allowing professional players to participate, there was little participation from major league players. Nevertheless, the idea of a tournament with the express involvement of top-level professional ballplayers had been seriously considered since the mid-1990s. Gene Orza, counsel and board member of the Major League Baseball Players Association, began campaigning for such a tournament in 2004, enlisting the support of IBAF president Aldo Notari. The inaugural tournament was announced by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and MLBPA president Donald Fehr on May 11, 2005. The success of the 2006 tournament led organizers to immediately begin planning for a follow-up tournament in 2009.
The IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation in 2013 to form the World Baseball Softball Confederation. That same year, the WBSC discontinued the Baseball World Cup, last held in 2011, making the World Baseball Classic one of the two main senior baseball tournaments sanctioned by the WBSC, alongside the Premier 12.
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World Baseball Classic AI simulator
(@World Baseball Classic_simulator)
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized by World Baseball Classic Inc., a partnership of the WBSC with Major League Baseball (MLB) and Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). The winning team is awarded the World Baseball Classic Championship Trophy. It is one of the two main senior baseball tournaments sanctioned by the WBSC, alongside the WBSC Premier12, but is the only one to grant the winner the title of "world champion".
The tournament, proposed in 2005 by MLB and its Players Association, was first held in 2006 as an invitational event. It previously coexisted with Olympic baseball (until 2008) and the Baseball World Cup (until 2011) as tournaments sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, the predecessor to the WBSC. The Baseball World Cup was discontinued after the 2011 edition, when the WBSC accepted an MLB suggestion to make the WBC the officially-sanctioned world championship, on the condition that the Classic should have direct qualifications and follow international anti-doping rules.
After a three-year gap between the first two installments of the tournament, plans were made for the World Baseball Classic to be repeated every four years following the 2009 event. The third installment of the Classic was held in 2013, and the fourth was held in 2017. The World Baseball Classic was held five times from 2006 to 2023, with Japan, the Dominican Republic, and the United States winning the championship. Japan, as of the 2023 tournament, is the only team to win the tournament multiple times.
The tournament is the first of its kind to have national teams featuring professional players from the top-level major leagues around the world, including Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In addition to providing a format for the best baseball players in the world to compete against one another while representing their home countries, the World Baseball Classic was created in order to further promote the game around the globe. As of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the tournament is one of the most viewed sporting events in the world.
Prior to the advent of the World Baseball Classic, there was no international baseball championship that saw universal participation from players across the globe. Outside the United States, the formally-recognized "world championship" was the Baseball World Cup, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and held 38 times from 1938 to 2011; it was known as the Amateur World Series until 1988. The inaugural 1938 Amateur World Series was contested by Great Britain and the United States over a series of five games from August 13 to 20 in England, and was won by Great Britain. Cuba was by far the most successful team at the Baseball World Cup, winning 25 of the 39 editions.
Baseball was also intermittently played at the Summer Olympic Games as early as 1912, although it was not recognized as an official demonstration sport until the 1984 Los Angeles Games. It would take another eight years, at the 1992 Games, for baseball to be accorded the status of a medal sport. In 2012 it was once again dropped from the Olympic program, appearing as an optional event in 2020.
For most of their history, the Olympics and Baseball World Cup were open only to amateur (i.e. non-professional) players; as a results, those participating in top-level professional baseball leagues in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere were not included. Although both competition formally rescinded their amateur-only status in the 1990s, allowing professional players to participate, there was little participation from major league players. Nevertheless, the idea of a tournament with the express involvement of top-level professional ballplayers had been seriously considered since the mid-1990s. Gene Orza, counsel and board member of the Major League Baseball Players Association, began campaigning for such a tournament in 2004, enlisting the support of IBAF president Aldo Notari. The inaugural tournament was announced by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and MLBPA president Donald Fehr on May 11, 2005. The success of the 2006 tournament led organizers to immediately begin planning for a follow-up tournament in 2009.
The IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation in 2013 to form the World Baseball Softball Confederation. That same year, the WBSC discontinued the Baseball World Cup, last held in 2011, making the World Baseball Classic one of the two main senior baseball tournaments sanctioned by the WBSC, alongside the Premier 12.