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- For the "World Baseball Classic", see World Baseball Classic
The World Cup of Baseball is a tournament in which national baseball teams from around the world compete for the position of top national team in the world. It is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, based in Switzerland, which also sanctions the new World Baseball Classic.
History
There have been 36 Baseball World Cups to date; the first tournament, held in 1936 featured only two teams but the last five have all featured 16 teams. The most recent World Cup was held in 2005 in the Netherlands. The tournament generally receives little publicity, and certainly does not begin to approach the popularity of the football (soccer) World Cup or rugby World Cup. 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 by that name already exists and has for almost seventy years. However, the World Baseball Classic is the first international baseball tournament to include players in the Major Leagues, making it a closer equivalent to the other world cups, which include players from the most prestigious professional leagues, than the World Cup of Baseball.
Tournament Results
1938 I
- Host Country: Great Britain
- Teams: 2
- Gold: Great Britain
- Silver: United States
- Bronze: none awarded
1939 II
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 3
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Nicaragua
- Bronze: United States
1940 III
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 7
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: United States, Nicaragua
- Bronze: none awarded
1941 IV
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 9
- Gold: Venezuela
- Silver: Cuba
- Bronze: Mexico
1942 V
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 5
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Dominican Republic
- Bronze: Venezuela
1943 VI
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 4
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Mexico
- Bronze: Dominican Republic
1944 VII
- Host Country: Venezuela
- Teams: 8
- Gold: Venezuela
- Silver: Mexico
- Bronze: Cuba
1945 VIII
- Host Country: Venezuela
- Teams: 6
- Gold: Venezuela
- Silver: Colombia
- Bronze: Panama
1947 IX
- Host Country: Colombia
- Teams: 9
- Gold: Colombia
- Silver: Puerto Rico
- Bronze: Nicaragua
1948 X
- Host Country: Nicaragua
- Teams: 8
- Gold: Dominican Republic
- Silver: Puerto Rico
- Bronze: Colombia
1950 XI
- Host Country: Nicaragua
- Teams: 12
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Dominican Republic
- Bronze: Venezuela
1951 XII
- Host Country: Mexico
- Teams: 11
- Gold: Puerto Rico
- Silver: Venezuela
- Bronze: Cuba
1952 XIII
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 13
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Dominican Republic
- Bronze: Puerto Rico
1953 XIV
- Host Country: Venezuela
- Teams: 11
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Venezuela
- Bronze: Nicaragua
1961 XV
- Host Country: Costa Rica
- Teams: 10
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Mexico
- Bronze: Venezuela
1965 XVI
- Host Country: Colombia
- Teams: 9
- Gold: Colombia
- Silver: Mexico
- Bronze: Puerto Rico
1969 XVII
- Host Country: Dominican Republic
- Teams: 11
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: United States
- Bronze: Dominican Republic
1970 XVIII
- Host Country: Colombia
- Teams: 12
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: United States
- Bronze: Puerto Rico
1971 XIX
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 10
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Colombia
- Bronze: Nicaragua
1972 XX
- Host Country: Nicaragua
- Teams: 16
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: United States
- Bronze: Nicaragua
1973 XXI
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 8
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Puerto Rico
- Bronze: Venezuela
1973 XXII
- Host Country: Nicaragua
- Teams: 11
- Gold: United States
- Silver: Nicaragua
- Bronze: Puerto Rico
1974 XXIII
- Host Country: United States
- Teams: 9
- Gold: United States
- Silver: Nicaragua
- Bronze: Colombia
1976 XXIV
- Host Country: Colombia
- Teams: 11
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Puerto Rico
- Bronze: Japan
1978 XXV
- Host Country: Italy
- Teams: 11
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: United States
- Bronze: South Korea
1980 XXVI
- Host Country: Japan
- Teams: 12
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: South Korea
- Bronze: Japan
1982 XXVII
- Host Country: South Korea
- Teams: 10
- Gold: South Korea
- Silver: Japan
- Bronze: United States
1984 XXVIII
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 13
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Chinese Taipei
- Bronze: United States
1986 XXIX
- Host Country: Netherlands
- Teams: 12
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: South Korea
- Bronze: Chinese Taipei
1988 XXX
- Host Country: Italy
- Teams: 12
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: United States
- Bronze: Chinese Taipei
1990 XXXI
- Host Country: Canada
- Teams: 12
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Nicaragua
- Bronze: South Korea
1994 XXXII
- Host Country: Nicaragua
- Teams: 16
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: South Korea
- Bronze: Japan
1998 XXXIII
- Host Country: Italy
- Teams: 16
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: South Korea
- Bronze: Nicaragua
2001 XXXIV
- Host Country: Chinese Taipei
- Teams: 16
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: United States
- Bronze: Chinese Taipei
2003 XXXV
- Host Country: Cuba
- Teams: 16
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: Panama
- Bronze: Japan
2005 XXXVI
- Host Country: Netherlands
- Teams: 18
- Gold: Cuba
- Silver: South Korea
- Bronze: Panama
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: 1 (1941)
Bronze: 2 (1944 1951)
Venezuela
Gold: 3 (1941 1944 1945)
Silver: 2 (1951 1953)
Bronze: 4 (1942 1950 1961 1973)
United States
Gold: 2 (1973 1974)
Silver: 8 (1938 1940* 1969 1970 1972 1978 1988 2001)
Bronze: 3 (1939 1982 1984)
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** 1976)
Bronze: 4 (1952 1965 1970 1973**)
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* 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: 4 (1976 1980 1994 2003)
Chinese Taipei
Gold: 0
Silver: 1 (1984)
Bronze: 3 (1986 1988 2001)
Panama
Gold: 0
Silver: 1 (2003)
Bronze: 2 (1945 2005)
Footnotes
See also
External links
"World Cup of Baseball"