World Baseball Classic
From BR Bullpen
- This page is about the World Baseball Classic. For information about the tournament held in 2006, click here. For the five-team 1973 Triple-A tournament, click here.
The World Baseball Classic, sometimes abbreviated WBC, is an international baseball tournament that was first held in 2006. It is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and supported by Major League Baseball, the Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations from around the world. The second WBC is scheduled to take place in 2009, with subsequent tournaments held every four years thereafter.
The World Baseball Classic is the first international baseball tournament to feature players currently playing in the major leagues. The Olympics conflict with the MLB schedule, and after professional players were allowed to play in 2000 the league offered only token cooperation, not allowing any players on a MLB team's 40-man roster to participate. The World Cup of Baseball also had the same problems, and historically has not had not major leaguers participate. In addition to providing a competetion between the top players in the world, the World Baseball Classic was created in order to further promote the game and Major League Baseball around the globe.
[edit] History
The tournament was announced in May 2005 by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The MLB had been attempting to create a tournament for at least two years, with the tournament expected to be played in March 2005. However negotiations with the MLBPA, team owners, and sanctioning by the International Baseball Federation caused the delay. The owners, most notably New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, had been concerned about their star players being injured in the tournament. The union's objection was with drug testing; MLB wanted the stricter international standards in place for the tournament, while the union wanted the current MLB standards in place. Eventually, a deal was reached on insurance for player contracts and a compromise was reached on drug testing. MLB teams would not be able to directly block their players from participating.
Similarly, Nippon Professional Baseball and its players' association, the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association, had a disagreement over participation in the tournament. While the owners initially agreed to the invitation, the players' union was concerned about the time of year the tournament was scheduled to take place, as well as their right to be better represented when the next tournament was to be held. After four months of negotiations, NPB officially notified MLB they were accepting the invitation on September 16, 2005. Japan would eventually win the tournament.
[edit] Results
| Year | Finals Site | Teams | Finals | Semifinalists | Most Valuable Player | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Score | Runner-up | 3rd Place | 4th Place | |||||||
| 2006 | PETCO Park San Diego, CA | 16 |  Japan | 10 - 6 |  Cuba |  South Korea |  Dominican Republic | Daisuke Matsuzaka Japan | |||
| 2009 | | ||||||||||
| 2013 | | ||||||||||
[edit] External Links
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| World Baseball Classic | |
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| 2006 | 2009 | 2013 | |
