The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is the former worldwide governing body of baseball. It has since been superseded by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and continues to exist as the WBSC's baseball division. Between 1944 and 1975, it was known by its Spanish-language name, as the Federación Internacional de Béisbol Amateur, or FIBA.
One of its principal responsibilities as the WBSC's umbrella is to organize, standardize and sanction international competitions, using the WBSC name, among baseball's 124 national governing bodies through its various tournaments to determine a world champion and calculate world rankings for both men's and women's baseball. Its offices are housed within the WBSC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland—the Olympic Capital.
History
Background
Baseball at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden
The first-ever international baseball event was a series of exhibition games that took place during the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, United States. The exhibition proved so successful that it was given an encore at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.
The two popular showings in St. Louis and Stockholm laid the groundwork for baseball's international surge in popularity, leading the sport to be placed onto the program as an exhibition sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics. This exhibition was extremely well received as 92,565 spectators filled the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch a game between two teams from the US.
Following the success of Berlin, the first ever Baseball World Cup was organized in London, England, in August 1938. The United States and Great Britain engaged in five games, of which the British won four.
The growth of baseball competitions involving the representation of countries, coupled with the birth of the Baseball World Cup, provided the need for an institution to help develop, organize, regulate and oversee these events, thus the International Baseball Federation was established in 1938. It was initially headquartered in the offices of Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami, Florida.[1]
Early years and FIBA
Conflicts of World War II prompted the IOC to cancel the Summer Games that had been scheduled to take place in Tokyo in 1940 and in London in 1944, thereby halting baseball's tour as a demonstration sport. Nevertheless, by 1950, FIBA was able to expand the format of the Baseball World Cup that was contested in Managua, Nicaragua, to 12 participating countries.
The Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) was founded in May 1954 as the second continental confederation under the umbrella of FIBA. The BFA wasted little time in organizing its first continental tournament, as it celebrated the Asian Baseball Championship in December of that same year in Manila, Philippines.
Baseball as an Olympic demonstration sport was finally able to take its act to Asia at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, where baseball was already exceptionally popular. Following the 1968 Summer Olympics, a selection of premier U.S. college players defeated the Cuba national team twice in Mexico City to win the International Amateur Baseball Tournament (though it was not officially a demonstration sport).
Juan Isa expanded FIBA's reach to include Europe, inviting the Netherlands and Italy to the Amateur World Series for the first time in 1970.[2]
FEMBA split
Isa's tenure as president was controversial. Some federations felt that power had been concentrated in the hands of the Latin American federations for too long, to the detriment of federations in Europe and North America. Tensions came to a head at the 1973 FIBA Congress, where the Congress suspended Nicaragua and awarded the 1973 Amateur World Series to Cuba; Isa also refused to call for new elections.[2] As a result, Nicaraguan, Italian, and U.S. officials withdrew from FIBA, and instead formed formed the Federación Mundial de Béisbol Amateur (World Amateur Baseball Federation), also knowns as FEMBA.[2][3]
Other countries to join FEMBA included Argentina, Canada, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and South Africa. William "Dutch" Fehring was elected president, and Carlos García Solórzano vice president.[4] The Caribbean federations — Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, and the Dutch Antilles — remained with FIBA.[5] The Baseball Federation of Cuba characterized the division as driven by Cold War political tensions.[3] However, this was denied by Roger Panaye, president of the European Amateur Baseball Confederation (CEBA):
FIBA was never more than a Caribbean affair with Cuba as chief spokesman. When a couple of years ago, many federations joined FIBA in order to have baseball recognised as an Olympic sport, nothing was done to make FIBA a real World Federation. On the contrary, the Caribbean FIBA leaders kept to their policy of dominating the others and administration was almost non-existent.[6]
Fehring, with the backing of MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, pushed International Olympic Committee head Lord Killanin to include baseball at the Olympics. However, Killanin told him it would not occur as long as baseball was represented by two different organizations.[2]
The FEMBA-FIBA split was resolved in 1976 thanks to the mediation of Mexican Olympic Committee president Mario Vázquez Raña; FIBA was reorganized as AINBA (Spanish: Asociación Internacional de Béisbol Amateur), with Manuel González Guerra elected president and Carlos García Solórzano vice president.[2][7]
Baseball at the Summer Olympics
In 1978, the IOC awarded the hosting rights of the 1984 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles, and Robert Smith quickly went to work, in his capacity as a member of the United States Olympic Committee, to reestablish baseball as part of the Olympic Programme. Smith reached out to the then-Los Angeles Dodgers owner, Peter O'Malley, and University of Southern California head baseball coach and subsequent College Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, Rod Dedeaux. The group organized an IBAF congress the following year in Los Angeles in order to establish an Olympic Baseball Committee. Through these efforts, baseball was again categorized as a demonstration sport and an eight-team tournament was organized at Dodger Stadium, as part of the official Summer Olympic Programme. The present IBAF President, Riccardo Fraccari, was the head umpire of the championship game.
A third branch of the IBAF continental confederations formed in 1985. The Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) was finally established after it was deemed necessary due to the strong expansion and increase of the national member federations stemming from the Olympic Baseball Committee campaign.
In 1986, a historic IOC vote put baseball onto the Olympic Programme as a medal sport for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Baseball would travel to Seoul, Korea, for the 1988 Summer Olympics. This was the final time the IBAF, in conjunction with the IOC, would organize baseball as a demonstration (not medal) sport at the Olympics.
Baseball was played up in a traditional amateur format up until the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In 1998, the IBAF, MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association reached an agreement to allow the participation of professional players in international competition. The United States used a minor league selection to beat Cuba in the gold medal game at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Cuba regained the world title, defeating Australia for the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Setbacks and reformation
On July 7, 2005, the IOC Session voted to remove baseball and softball from the 2012 Summer Olympics program. Baseball made its last Olympic appearance and Korea took the gold medal at the Beijing2008 Summer Olympics.
The IBAF, under President Harvey Schiller, attempted to reinstate baseball onto the Olympic Programme, but the IOC vote of August 2009 kept baseball off the 2016 program, as golf and rugby were selected.
In February 2011, Dr. Harvey Schiller was appointed as a member of the IOC's Women and Sport Commission.[8]
In addition, the IBAF is the sanctioning body for the World Baseball Classic, which is hosted by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association and held every four years in the year after the Summer Olympics. The IBAF abandoned its former world championship, the Baseball World Cup, after the 2011 edition in favor of an expanded World Baseball Classic. It was originally intended to be the sanctioning body for the Premier 12, a new men's international tournament – featuring the twelve best-ranked national teams – that began in 2015; that tournament instead has been sanctioned by the WBSC. This event is played in the year preceding the Summer Olympics.
The IBAF discontinued the Intercontinental Cup, which was an invitational event and last held in 2010.
Organizational structure
The IBAF comprises five continental confederations that currently represent a total of 127 national member federations.
(*) Aldo Notari died during the period as the president, thus the first vice president, Tom Peng of Taiwan, served as acting president from July 2006 to 2007.[12][13][14]
Awards
See also: Baseball awards of the International Baseball Fedederation (IBAF)
USA Baseball is the national governing body for baseball in the United States, and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The organization is responsible for the selection of the United States national team for various international competition, including the senior professional team, the collegiate national team, the various youth national teams, and the women's national team.
The Baseball World Cup (BWC) was an international baseball tournament for national teams around the world, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). First held in 1938 as the Amateur World Series (AWS), it was, for most of its history, the highest level of international baseball competition in the world. Even after it was supplanted in this regard in 2006 by the modern World Baseball Classic (WBC), the Baseball World Cup was still considered by the IBAF to be a major world championship, along with the WBC and the Summer Olympic Games.
Baseball at the Summer Olympics unofficially debuted at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, and was first contested as a demonstration sport at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. It became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, then was played at each Olympiad through the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The sport was then dropped from the Summer Olympic program, until being revived for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for a single appearance. It is next expected to be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Australian national baseball team represents Australia in international baseball tournaments and competitions. It is ranked as the top team in Oceania, and is the Oceanian Champion, having been awarded the title in 2007 when New Zealand withdrew from the Oceania Baseball Championship. After achieving a last (16th) place in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, its rank dropped to 13, which is the lowest rank Australia ever received. The highest rank it has achieved is 6th, and its current rank is 10th.
The United States national baseball team, also known as Team USA represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 2nd in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The United States has won many international tournaments, many of which are now discontinued. Most notably the team won the Olympic baseball tournament in 2000, and the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in 2017.
The Puerto Rico national baseball team, also known as Team Rubio is the national baseball team of Puerto Rico. The men's senior team is currently ranked 13th in the world. Puerto Rico is the incumbent Pan American and Central American/Caribbean champion, as well as the World Baseball Classic runner-up. The team will compete against Israel, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Nicaragua in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in March 2023 in Miami, Florida.
The Italy national baseball team represents Italy in international baseball competitions. The Italian national team was ranked 16th in the world as of 2022. The team is managed by Mike Piazza, a former New York Mets player and Major League Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.
William Paul "Dutch" Fehring was an American football and baseball player, coach, and administrator. Fehring was president of the United States Baseball Federation, and briefly, the World Amateur Baseball Federation, better known as FEMBA, during its split from the International Baseball Federation.
The World University Baseball Championship is an under-23 international college baseball competition sponsored by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and was first held in 2002 in Italy. Until 2013, it was sanctioned by the then-International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and was one of several tournaments considered by the IBAF to be a minor world championship, and as such the results of the tournaments affected the IBAF World Rankings. For its men's world rankings, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) -- successor to the IBAF—now uses the results of WBSC's biennial 23U Baseball World Cup.
The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United States. Because it is a world championship, the results of the U-18 Baseball World Cup affect the WBSC World Rankings.
Aldo Notari was an Italian baseball player and executive who served as president of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) from 1993 to 2006. He is best known for the creation of the World Baseball Classic during his term. However, his tenure also criticized for precipitating the removal of baseball from the Olympic Games.
The WBSC World Rankings is a ranking system for national teams in baseball, softball, and baseball5. The teams of the member nations of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), baseball's world governing body, are ranked based on their tournament results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of WBSC-recognized international tournaments. Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team's performance over the last four years, with major international tournaments awarded a higher weighting compared to minor international and continental tournaments.
Riccardo Fraccari is an international sports administrator who is the current president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). He was previously president of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) from 2009 to 2013.
The U-12 Baseball World Cup is the under-12 baseball world championship sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and its predecessor the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), and is the most elite and highest level of competition in its age category. The U-12 Baseball World Championship is scheduled to be held every two years and launched in 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan as the "12U Baseball World Championship".
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for the sports of baseball, softball, and Baseball5. It was established in 2013 by the merger of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and International Softball Federation (ISF). Under the WBSC's organizational structure, the IBAF and ISF now serve as the confederation's baseball and softball divisions, respectively. Each division is governed by an executive committee, while the WBSC is governed by an executive board.
The WBSC Premier12 is the international baseball tournament organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), featuring the 12 highest-ranked national baseball teams in the world. The first tournament was held by Taiwan and Japan in November 2015. The second tournament, 2019 WBSC Premier12, was held in November 2019, and served as a qualifier for two teams for baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
This article contains lists of achievements in major senior-level international baseball and softball tournaments according to first-place, second-place and third-place results obtained by teams representing different nations. The objective is not to create combined medal tables; the focus is on listing the best positions achieved by teams in major international tournaments, ranking the nations according to the most number of podiums accomplished by teams of these nations.
Juan Isa was a Venezuelan-born Dutch Antillean baseball executive, administrator, and businessman. He was president of the International Baseball Federation (FIBA) from 1969 to 1976.
Carlos Manuel Zecca Sequeira was a Costa Rican businessman and baseball executive who was the president of the International Baseball Federation (FIBA) from 1952 to 1969.
Manuel Ricardo González Guerra was a Cuban baseball executive and president of the International Baseball Federation from 1976 to 1980. He was the first president of the organization elected after the splinter group FEMBA rejoined in 1976.
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