Baseball in the United Kingdom

Baseball
Country	United Kingdom
Governing body	British Baseball Federation
National team	Men's national team; Women's national team
First played	1862
National competitions
British Baseball Federation AAA, AA and A divisions

Baseball is a minor sport in the United Kingdom.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}

Introduction in the 19th Century

Derby County were one of Britain's leading baseball teams in the 1890s

In 1890 the international version of the game was introduced to the United Kingdom in Derby by Francis Ley, a Derby man who had 'discovered' the game on a trip to the United States, and Albert Goodwill Spalding, an American former star player and sporting goods businessman who saw opportunities to expand his business across the Atlantic. Aston Villa, now known exclusively as a football club, won the only professional baseball championship in 1890. The competition was hindered by poor weather and disappointing crowds and made a loss to its investors.^[14] One of the first baseball clubs was the Derby County Baseball Club who lead the first championship after the National Baseball League of Great Britain and Ireland was established in 1890. However, pressure from other teams in the league over the number of American players on the Derby team and low attendances forced Derby to resign before the end of the season, though the baseball club itself lasted until 1898. The so-called Baseball Ground continued to be used under that name as the home of football's Derby County F.C. for over a century, from 1895 to 1997.

Resurgence prior to WWII

Baseball's peak popularity in Britain was in the years immediately preceding World War II. Baseball teams shared grounds with football clubs and the game was run at a professional standard with up to 10,000 spectators per game.

One milestone of baseball in the United Kingdom was the 1938 victory of Great Britain over the United States in the 1938 Amateur World Series, considered the first World Cup of Baseball.

At present

Today, there are more than 40 baseball teams, 875 adult and Junior (Under 18) players ranging geographically from Croydon to Liverpool, Bristol to Edinburgh. The Junior Great British National Team consists of 15 players which recently competed in the European championships.

There have been numerous league formats since 1890. The British Baseball Federation (BBF) is the governing body for baseball in the UK and the baseball leagues. Baseball clubs pay annual affiliation fees to be a member of the BBF and play in the BBF Leagues and Junior Leagues. There is also a full Great Britain Baseball Programme which comprises the Great Britain Baseball Academy, junior national teams and Great Britain 'Seniors' Baseball Team.

The league format is divided into the national divisions, consisting of four tiers from the National League, down to tier 'A' leagues, and the Northern League for teams based in Northern England. At the end of the season, all divisions except the 'A' Leagues have a final four tournament where the top two teams from each conference play a knock out match with the winning teams then progressing to the Championship Series. The Championship Series of the National League is best of three, the AAA and AA championships are single games. In addition to this there are two leagues independent of the British Baseball Federation, the Scottish National League, run by Baseball Scotland and the South West Baseball League, representing the South West of England.

The season runs from April until August.

Baseball in Northern Ireland is affiliated to Baseball Ireland for practical reasons. Northern Ireland's only team, the Belfast Northstars, play in the Irish Adult League.

British University Baseball has also been growing with 20 universities with clubs at the end of the 2015/16 season: Cambridge, Coventry, Durham, Edinburgh, Essex, Exeter, Hull, Imperial, Leeds Beckett, Leeds Gryphons Baseball Club, Loughborough, Manchester Metropolotian University (Chesire), Nottingham University, Nottingham Trent University, Sheffield, Southampton, Stirling, Swansea, UCL and UEA. The University season runs from September to May, the typical off-season for the sport. Without a British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) league, teams compete in the National University Baseball Championships (NUBC) tournament, which happens twice a year in the spring and the autumn and are run by BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK). The Spring 2016 Champions are Loughborough, and have won the past 3 NUBC tournaments. Despite not having a BUCS league a Northern University Baseball League was set up for the 2015/16 season, and is planned to expand and be renamed to the National University Baseball League, and have a similar set up to the BBF leagues.

Champions

Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Comments
1890 (1)	Preston North End	43-15, 42-7	Aston Villa
1890 (2)	Aston Villa		Preston North End	No playoff
1892	Middlesbrough F.C.	25-16	St. Thomas's
1893	Thespian London	33-6	Darlington St. Augustine's
1894	Thespian London	38-14	Stockton-on-Tees
1895	Derby County Baseball Club	20-16	Fullers
1896	Wallsend-On-Tyne	16-10	Remingtons
1897	Derby County Baseball Club	30-7	Middlesbrough F.C.
1899	Derby County Baseball Club	14-3	Nottingham Forest F.C.
1900	Nottingham Forest F.C.	17-16	Derby County Baseball Club
1906	Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
1907	Clapton Orient	8-7	Fulham
1908	Tottenham Hotspur F.C.	6-5	Leyton
1909	Clapton Orient	6-4	Leyton
1910	Brentford	20-5	West Ham United
1911	Leyton	6-5	Crystal Palace
1934	Hatfield	13-12	Albion
1935	New London	7-1	Rochdale Greys
1936	White City	9-5	Catford Saints
1937	Hull	5-1	Romford Wasps
1938	Rochdale Greys	1-0	Oldham Greyhounds	15 innings
1939	Halifax	9-5	Rochdale Greys
1948	Liverpool Robins	13-0	Thames Board Mills
1949	Hornsey Red Sox	10-5	Liverpool Cubs
1950	Burtonwood Bees	23-2	Hornsey Red Sox
1951	Burtonwood Bees	9-2	Ruislip Rockets
1959	Thames Board Mills	12-4	East Hull Aces
1960	Thames Board Mills	6-1	Liverpool Tigers
1962	Liverpool Tigers	8-3	East Hull Aces
1963	East Hull Aces	8-3	Garringtons
1965	Kingston Aces	4-2	Stretford Saints
1966	Stretford Saints	3-1	Liverpool Aces
1967	Liverpool Yankees	4-2	Beckenham Bluejays
1968	Hull Aces	4-1	Hull Royals
1969	Watford-Sun Rockets	8-7	Liverpool Trojans	11 innings
1970	Hull Royals	3-1	Hull Aces
1971	Liverpool Tigers	8-3	Hull Aces
1972	Hull Aces	6-4	Hull Royals
1973	Burtonwood Yanks	23-3	Hull Aces
1974	Nottingham Lions	5-3	Hull Royals
1975	Liverpool Tigers	5-3	Nottingham Lions
1976	Liverpool Trojans	5-4	Spirit Of '76
1977	Golders Green Sox	9-5	Hull Aces
1978	Liverpool Trojans	14-12	Crawley Giants
1979	Golders Green Sox	9-7	Hull Aces
1980	Liverpool Trojans	12-1	Hull Aces
1981	London Warriors	23-1	Hull Aces
1982	London Warriors	16-7	Liverpool Trojans
1983	Cobham Yankees	10-3	Hull Mets
1984	Croydon Blue Jays	9-8	Hull Mets
1985	Hull Mets	10-8	London Warriors
1986	Cobham Yankees	12-5	Hull Mets
1987	Cobham Yankees	6-0	Southglade Hornets
1988	Cobham Yankees	16-1	Burtonwood Braves
1989	Enfield Spartans	15-9	Sutton Braves
1990	Enfield Spartans	22-3	Hull Mets
1991	Enfield Spartans	9-7, 2-4, 4-1	London Athletics	Spartans won 2 games to 1
1992 BBF	Leeds City Royals		Humberside Mets	Awarded championship by walkover
1992 NL	London Warriors	23-0, 5-4	Enfield Spartans	Warriors won 2 games to 0
1993 BBF	Humberside Mets and Chicksands Indians			Title decider not played
1993 NL	London Warriors	2-1	Enfield Spartans
1994 BBF	Humberside Mets	2-3, 10-0, 8-0	Essex Arrows	Mets won 2 games to 1
1994 NL	Enfield Spartans	8-5	Waltham Forest Angels
1995	Menwith Hill Pirates	3-2, 7-6	London Warriors	Pirates won 2 games to 0
1996	Menwith Hill Pirates	14-9, 11-23, 18-12	London Warriors	Pirates won 2 games to 1
1997	London Warriors	11-5, 31-12	Kingston-upon-Hull Cobras	Warriors won 2 games to 0
1998	Menwith Hill Patriots	13-5, 17-15	London Warriors	Patriots won 2 games to 0
1999	Brighton Buccaneers	16-4	Windsor Bears
2000	London Warriors	11-7	Brighton Buccaneers
2001	Brighton Buccaneers	8-5	Windsor Bears
2002	Brighton Buccaneers	5-1	Windsor Bears
2003	Windsor Bears	9-4	Brighton Buccaneers
2004	Croydon Pirates	12-10	Windsor Bears
2005	Croydon Pirates	11-4, 10-9	Brighton Buccaneers	Pirates won 2 games to 0
2006	Richmond Flames	7-11, 8-5, 9-0	Croydon Pirates	Flames won 2 games to 1
2007	London Mets	7-2, 11-1	Croydon Pirates	Mets won 2 games to 0
2008	London Mets	11-4	Richmond Flames
2009	Bracknell Blazers	16-4	Richmond Flames
2010	Richmond Flames	10-1	Bracknell Blazers
2011	Harlow Nationals	13-3	Lakenheath Diamondbacks
2012	Harlow Nationals	6-3	Herts Falcons
2013	Southern Nationals	12-7	Southampton Mustangs
2014	Essex Arrows	5-1, 5-4	London Mets	Arrows won 2 games to 0
2015	London Mets	6-2, 11-2	Southampton Mustangs	Mets won 2 games to 0
2016	TBC		TBC

Championships by Region

Region	Number of championships	Towns/Cities
London	31	London (31)
North West	16	Liverpool (9), Warrington (3), Preston (1), Rochdale (1), Stretford (1)
Yorkshire and the Humber	14	Hull (9), Harrogate (3), Halifax (1), Leeds (1)
South East	9	Cobham (4), Brighton (3), Bracknell (1), Windsor (1)
East of England	7	Harlow (2), Purfleet (2), Bedford (1), Waltham Abbey (1), Watford (1)
East Midlands	5	Derby (3), Nottingham (2)
North East	2	Middlesbrough (1), Newcastle (1)
West Midlands	1	Birmingham (1)
Cornwall	-
Scotland	-
South West	-
Wales	-

See also

• British Baseball Hall of Fame
• Baseball awards#United Kingdom
• Baseball awards#Europe

References

1. Sulat, Nate (26 July 2013). "Why isn't baseball more popular in the UK?". Retrieved 4 October 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
2. Robinson, Craig (28 January 2012). "Baseball In England: A Primer". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
3. editor, Lucy Sherriff Multimedia; UK, The Huffington Post (19 June 2015). "MLB Players Want To Come And Play Baseball In London. So Why Don't They?". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
4. CNN, By Simon Hooper,. "Did baseball begin in 18th-century England? - CNN.com". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
5. agencies, By Telegraph staff and. "Major League Baseball told: Your sport is British, not American". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
6. Palmer, Brian (10 August 2011). "Why Are They Using Baseball Bats Instead of Cricket Bats in the U.K. Riots?". Retrieved 4 October 2016 – via Slate.
7. "BBC NEWS - UK - England - Surrey - Baseball's UK heritage confirmed". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
8. "The 'Secret History' Of Baseball's Earliest Days". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
9. News, A. B. C. (24 September 2016). "Inspire, develop, perform: Unheralded British baseball chasing history". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
10. "Diary entry may prove baseball was invented in England". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
11. "British baseball on verge of making history". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
12. "MLB - Baseball in Europe is about to take off". Espn.com. 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
13. Daniel Luzer. "How America Stole Baseball From the United Kingdom". Psmag.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
14. Kendrick, Mat. "Aston Villa: The day the claret and blues won the baseball league". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2016-10-03.

External links

• BBF (British Baseball Federation)
• Great Britain National Baseball Team
• Project Cobb, the Project for the Chronicling of British Baseball.
• Great Britain Baseball Scorers Association, the home of baseball scoring in the UK.