Great Britain national baseball team

The British team, managed by George McNeil, won the inaugural Baseball World Cup in 1938, beating the United States by four games to one in the series hosted in England. This series was subsequently declared the first world championship of amateur baseball by the International Baseball Federation, and so Great Britain became the first amateur world champions. With the backing of Sir John Moores a team was set to compete in the 1939 series, in Havana, as defending champions. In doing so they would have become the first national representative team to compete outside of the United Kingdom^[3] but the outbreak of the Second World War interrupted the development of baseball in the United Kingdom, the team withdrew and the sport entered into decline domestically. So severe was the impact of the Second World War on baseball in the United Kingdom that it was over 70 years before the team qualified for another world championship event, when they reached the 2009 Baseball World Cup by virtue of its second-place finish at the 2007 European Baseball Championship.

In 2007, the Great Britain team won the silver medal at the European Baseball Championship, finishing top of Group B and only losing two games in the tournament. It ultimately finished second overall to the Netherlands. This marked Britain's highest placing in the tournament since its first entry into the event in 1967, when it also finished second.

Prior to 2007 the team's showing in the European Baseball Championship was generally limited to finishing in the lower half of the standings, which often resulted in relegation to the secondary tournament known as the European Baseball Championship Qualifier (sometimes referred to as the 'B-Pool'). In 1988 and 1996 Great Britain hosted and won the Qualifier, thereby returning to the main European Championship event the following year (sometimes referred to as the 'A-Pool'). Since the silver medal in 2007, Great Britain has on occasion had to repeat the process of qualification through the B-Pool.

By winning the silver medal in 2007 Great Britain qualified both for the 2009 Baseball World Cup and for the Final Qualifying Tournament in Taiwan for the 2008 Summer Olympics. However, a lack of funding including a refusal by UK Sport to provide any backing meant it was forced to withdraw from the Final Qualifying Tournament and was replaced by Germany.^[4] This was the Great Britain team's last chance to qualify for an Olympic baseball competition due to the earlier decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to remove baseball from the Games after 2008. That decision – announced one day after London had been awarded the 2012 Olympics on 6 July 2005 – also meant that the Great Britain baseball team would not have the opportunity to play in front of a home crowd in the 2012 London Olympics and to promote the sport in the United Kingdom. It also meant that the team ceased to receive elite funding from bodies such as UK Sport.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2009 World Cup – held simultaneously in various countries around Europe – Britain qualified out of the first group stage before eventually finishing 15th overall. Following the World Cup, in October 2009 the IBAF announced a new set of world rankings in which Britain rose to 21st.,^[5] though they since dropped to 32nd as of 2017.^[6]Great Britain was invited to compete in the qualifying round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic. In 2016 Hall of Fame inductee Trevor Hoffman joined the coaching staff, honouring his maternal English ancestry, with his grandfather having been a professional footballer in the Football League.^[7] Great Britain competed in the qualifying round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, where it was defeated in the finals by Team Israel.^{[citation needed]}

On 20 September 2022, Great Britain qualified for its first World Baseball Classic by defeating Spain 10–9 in 10 innings in Regensburg, Germany. ^[8]

Hall of Fame inductee Trevor Hoffman has previously coached the Great Britain national team,^[7] as has the English-born, highly experienced Major League Baseball player Lance Painter. The most high-profile recent player to represent the United Kingdom as a player is Jazz Chisholm Jr. Former major leaguer Vance Worley has also played for the team, starting the qualifying game against Spain in 2022 that clinched a spot in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.^[9]

The team’s roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic qualification. Very few members of the team were born in Britain, instead qualifying through British parents or grandparents, and almost none of them played in the domestic league.^[10]

The following is a list of professional baseball match results currently active in the latest version of the WBSC World Rankings, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.^[11]

Legend

  Win  Lose  Void or postponed  Fixture

Euro Championship GS	8 September	Germany	1–0	Great Britain	Bonn 1, Germany
	19:30 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 1,350

Euro Championship GS	9 September	Czech Republic	3–4 (F/10)	Great Britain	Weyersberg Park, Germany
	12:30 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 150

Euro Championship GS	10 September	Great Britain	4–7	Israel	Weyersberg Park, Germany
	12:30 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 150

Euro Championship GS	11 September	Sweden	7–13	Great Britain	Bonn 2, Germany
	13:00 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 50

Euro Championship GS	11 September	Great Britain	2–10	Netherlands	Bonn 2, Germany
	17:15 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 150

Euro Championship RR	12 September	Austria	6–1	Great Britain	Bonn 1, Germany
	11:00 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 100

Euro Championship RR	13 September	Great Britain	12–2 (F/8)	Sweden	Weyersberg Park, Germany
	12:30 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 80

Euro Championship RR	14 September	Croatia	1–5	Great Britain	Weyersberg Park, Germany
	12:30 CET		Boxscore		Attendance: 150

Euro Championship 9th	15 September	Austria	9–11	Great Britain	Weyersberg Park, Germany
	11:00		Boxscore		Attendance: 150

Euro Championship GS	12 September	France	2–7	Great Britain	Paolo II Palace, Italy
			Boxscore

Euro Championship GS	13 September	Great Britain	6–7	Russia	Paschetto Stadium, Italy
			Boxscore

Euro Championship GS	14 September	Great Britain	4–11	Israel	Aluffi Stadium, Italy
			Boxscore

Euro Championship QF	16 September	Netherlands	7–5	Great Britain	Paschetto Stadium, Italy
			Boxscore

Euro Championship CG	17 September	Belgium	11–12	Great Britain	Aluffi Stadium, Italy
			Boxscore

Euro Championship 5th	18 September	Great Britain	5–8	Czech Republic	Paolo II Palace, Italy
			Boxscore

World Baseball Classic Q	16 September	Great Britain	14–4 (F/8)	France	Armin-Wolf-Arena, Germany
	19:00 CET	WP: McKenzie Mills (1-0) HR: Harry Ford (1)	Boxscore	LP: Kevin Canelon (0-1) HR: Ivan Acuna (1)	Attendance: 897 Umpires: Jon Byrne

World Baseball Classic Q	17 September	Great Britain	8–1	Germany	Armin-Wolf-Arena, Germany
	19:00 CET	WP: Akeel Morris (1-0) HR: Justin Wylie (1), Harry Ford (2)	Boxscore	LP: Brian Flynn (0-1)	Attendance: 2,216 Umpires: Tyler Jones (HP), Jon Byrne (1B), Sam Burch (2B), Young Chou Kwon (3B)

World Baseball Classic Q	20 September	Spain	9–10 (F/10)	Great Britain	Armin-Wolf-Arena, Germany
	19:00 CET	LP: Rhiner Cruz HR: Noelvi Marte (1)	Boxscore	WP: Tahnaj Thomas HR: Harry Ford (3), D'Shawn Knowles (1), Jaden Rudd (1)	Attendance: 1,186 Umpires: HP: Young Chou Kwon, 1B: Roberto LaMadrid, 2B: Darius Ghani, 3B: Mark Winters

World Baseball Classic GS	11 March	Great Britain	2–6	United States	Chase Field, United States
	19:00 MT	LP: Vance Worley (0–1) HR: Trayce Thompson (1)	Boxscore	WP: Adam Wainwright (1–0) HR: Kyle Schwarber (1)	Attendance: 39,650 Umpires: HP – Carlos Torres, 1B – Felix Tejada, 2B – Bill Miller, 3B – Jhonatan Biarreta

World Baseball Classic GS	12 March	Great Britain	8–18 (F/7)	Canada	Chase Field, United States
	12:00 MT	LP: Akeel Morris (0–1) HR: Harry Ford (1)	Boxscore	WP: Phillippe Aumont (1–0) HR: Edouard Julien (1), Owen Caissie (1)	Attendance: 11,555 Umpires: HP – Felix Tejada, 1B – Bill Miller, 2B – Jhonatan Biarreta, 3B – Carlos Torres

World Baseball Classic GS	13 March	Colombia	5–7	Great Britain	Chase Field, United States
	12:00 MT	LP: Yapson Gomez (0–1) HR: Dilson Herrera (1)	Boxscore	WP: Graham Spraker (1–0) Sv: Ian Gibaut (1) HR: Harry Ford (2)	Attendance: 10,416 Umpires: HP – Jhonatan Biarreta, 1B – Cory Blaser, 2B – Felix Tejada, 3B – Doug Eddings

World Baseball Classic GS	14 March	Great Britain	1–2	Mexico	Chase Field, United States
	19:00 MT	LP: Tahnaj Thomas (0–1)	Boxscore	WP: JoJo Romero (1–0) Sv: Giovanny Gallegos (1)	Attendance: 17,705 Umpires: HP – Cory Blaser, 1B – Carlos Torres, 2B – Félix Tejada, 3B – Jhonatan Biarreta

World Baseball Classic record								Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	W	L	RS	RA		W	L	RS	RA
2006	did not enter							No qualifiers held
2009	did not enter							No qualifiers held
2013	did not qualify							1	2	14	32
2017	did not qualify							2	2	21	17
2023	Round 1	15th	1	3	18	31		3	0	31	13
Total	Round 1	1/5	1	3	18	31		6	4	66	62

Great Britain was invited to compete in the qualifying round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, where they were grouped Canada and Germany. After an 11–1 defeat to the Canadians,^[12] they won against the Czech Republic, 12–5.^[13] In the third group game, however, Great Britain lost to Germany. 16–0 down at the 7th inning stretch, they pulled one back before the mercy rule came into effect, and GB exited the qualifiers 16–1.^[14]

Baseball World Cup record
Year	Host	Round	Position		W	L	RS	RA
1938				1 of 2	4	1	20	14
2009		2		15 of 22	1	9	23	70
Total	2/39	1			5	10	43	84

1938 Amateur World Series

13 August	Great Britain	3–0	United States	United Kingdom Wavertree Stadium, Liverpool

15 August	Great Britain	8–6	United States	United Kingdom Kingston upon Hull

17 August	Great Britain	0–5	United States	United Kingdom Spotland Stadium, Rochdale

19 August	Great Britain	4–0	United States	United Kingdom The Shay, Halifax

20 August	Great Britain	5–3	United States	United Kingdom Leeds

2009 Baseball World Cup

10 September 2009 Round 1, Group C	Great Britain	7–9	Japan	Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Attendance: 180
	LP: Samuel Whitehead	Boxscore	WP: Yosuke Okamoto

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11 September 2009 Round 1, Group C	Nicaragua	10 – 0 (F/7)	Great Britain	Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Attendance: 150
	WP: S. Diego Garcia	Boxscore	LP: Alexander D. Smith

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12 September 2009 Round 1, Group C	Croatia	1–4	Great Britain	Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Attendance: 600
	LP: James Summers	Boxscore	WP: Brian C. Essery Sv: Thomas A. Boleska

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13 September 2009 Round 2, Group F	Great Britain	0–6	Cuba	Netherlands Pim Mulier Stadion, Haarlem Attendance: 327
	LP: Stephen P. Spragg	Boxscore	WP: Freddy A. Alvarez

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14 September 2009 Round 2, Group F	Great Britain	5 – 15 (F/8)	South Korea	Netherlands Sportpark Ookmeer, Amsterdam Attendance: 91
	LP: Stephen P. Spragg	Boxscore	WP: Hyun-June Park

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16 September 2009 Round 2, Group F	Nicaragua	4–1	Great Britain	Netherlands Familie Stadion, Rotterdam Attendance: 112
	WP: S. Diego Garcia	Boxscore	LP: Brian C. Essery

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17 September 2009 13:00 Round 2, Group F	Great Britain	4–5	Puerto Rico	Netherlands Pim Mulier Stadion, Haarlem Attendance: 1,477
	LP: Alexander D. Smith	Boxscore	WP: Angel Garcia Sv: Orlando B. Roman

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18 September 2009 Round 2, Group F	Netherlands	6–0	Great Britain	Netherlands Familie Stadion, Rotterdam Attendance: 2,225
	WP: Tom Stuifbergen	Boxscore	LP: Aeden McQueary-Ennis

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19 September 2009 Round 2, Group F	Spain	3–10	Great Britain	Netherlands Familie Stadion, Rotterdam Attendance: 433
	WP: Rhiner A. Cruz	Boxscore	LP: Stephen P. Spragg

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20 September 2009 Round 2, Group F	Great Britain	6–1	Venezuela	Netherlands Pim Mulier Stadion, Haarlem Attendance: 800
	LP: Thomas Stack-Babich	Boxscore	WP: Roger Luque

Team Great Britain have played in 17 tournaments, with a current unbroken streak going back to 1997. The best result a silver medal (1967 and 2007).

Notable among these appearances was 2019, with former MLB pitchers Barry Enright and Michael Roth playing for the team.^[15]

• Official archive for GB senior team
• Official archive for GB junior team
• British Baseball Federation
• Baseball Softball UK