Baseball in the United Kingdom

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

Championships by Region

See also

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

References

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.