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.

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.

On September 20, 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

2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

2022

World Baseball Classic Q	September 16	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	September 17	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	September 20	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

2023

World Baseball Classic GS	March 11	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	March 12	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	March 13	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	March 14	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

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