Editing Baseball (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of baseball}}
{{Further|Origins of baseball}}

Consensus once held that today's baseball is a North American development from the older game [[rounders]], popular among children in [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain and Ireland]].<ref name="BlockRader"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Rounders (English Game)|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/510872/rounders |access-date=October 23, 2018 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Claire|title=Save rounders! It's the only sport for people who hate sport|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11384071/Rounders-Its-the-only-sport-for-people-who-hate-sport.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11384071/Rounders-Its-the-only-sport-for-people-who-hate-sport.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Telegraph|date=February 2, 2015|access-date=October 23, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> American baseball historian David Block suggests that the game originated in [[England]]; recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. According to Block and [[John Thorn]], official MLB historian, this earlier version of baseball may have involved hitting the ball with a hand, making it akin to today's [[punchball]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thorn |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqF84JTKCNoC&pg=PA58 |title=Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game |date=2012-03-20 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-9404-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Curtis |first=Bryan |date= |title=» In Search of Baseball's Holy Grail |url=https://grantland.com/features/baseball-archaeologist-david-block/ |access-date=2024-12-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of each other, and that the game's most direct antecedents are the English games of [[stoolball]] and "tut-ball".<ref name="BlockRader">Block (2005), pp. 86, 87, 111–113, 118–121, 135–138, 144, 160; Rader (2008), p. 7.</ref> The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, ''[[A Little Pretty Pocket-Book]]'', by [[John Newbery]].<ref>Block (2005), pp. 139, 140, 151, 164, 178, 179, et seq.; {{cite web|author=Hellier, Cathy|url=http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume2/june04/pocketbook.cfm|title=Mr. Newbery's Little Pretty Pocket-Book|access-date=April 12, 2008|publisher=Colonial Williamsburg Foundation|archive-date=January 10, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110115349/http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume2/june04/pocketbook.cfm|url-status=dead}} See [[s:A Little Pretty Pocket-book/Base-Ball|Wikisource edition of ''A Little Pretty Pocket-Book'']].</ref> Block discovered that the first recorded game of "Base Ball"<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1749 baseball season |url=https://hertsbaseball.com/2013/06/11/the-1749-baseball-season-with-the-prince-of-wales-at-bat-and-the-earl-of-middlesex-on-deck/}}</ref> took place in 1749 in [[Surrey]], and featured the [[Frederick, Prince of Wales|Prince of Wales]] as a player.<ref>{{cite news|title=Why isn't baseball more popular in the UK?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23425907|access-date=July 26, 2013|work=BBC News|date=July 26, 2013}}</ref> This early form of the game was apparently brought to [[Canada]] by English immigrants.<ref>Block (2005), pp. 58, 160, 300, 307, 310; {{cite web|author=Miller, Doug|url=http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050802&content_id=1154441&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos|title=Pittsfield: Small City, Big Baseball Town|date=August 2, 2005|access-date=February 3, 2009|publisher=Major League Baseball|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321043321/http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050802&content_id=1154441&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos|archive-date=March 21, 2006}}</ref>

[[File:Cricket vs. baseball (4050380395).jpg|thumb|upright|By the 1860s [[American Civil War|Civil War]], baseball (bottom) had overtaken its fellow bat-and-ball sport [[cricket]] (top) in popularity within the United States.{{Efn|Partially because baseball was much shorter in duration than the form of cricket [[First-class cricket|played at the time]] and did not require a [[Cricket pitch|special playing surface]].}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crown |first=Daniel |date=2017-10-19 |title=The Battle Between Baseball and Cricket for American Sporting Supremacy |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cricket-baseball-american-sport |access-date=2023-01-05 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Why cricket and America are made for each other |url=https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2022/12/20/why-cricket-and-america-are-made-for-each-other |access-date=2023-01-05 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> Growing American influence abroad meant the same occurred in Japan and the Dominican Republic by the early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guthrie-Shimizu |first=Sayuri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx2i3f5k6MkC&pg=PA26 |title=Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War |date=2012-04-04 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-8266-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=DR1.com - Dominican Republic News & Travel Information Service |url=https://dr1.com/articles/cricket.shtml |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=dr1.com}}</ref>]]
By the early 1830s, there were reports of a variety of uncodified bat-and-ball games recognizable as early forms of baseball being played around North America.<ref>Block (2005), pp. 4–5, 11–15, 25, 33, 59–61, et. seq.</ref> The first officially recorded baseball game in North America was played in [[Beachville, Ontario]], Canada, on June 4, 1838.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Giddens|first=David|url=https://www.cbc.ca/sportslongform/entry/how-canada-invented-american-football-baseball-basketball-and-hockey|title=How Canada invented 'American' football, baseball, basketball and hockey|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=June 15, 2017|access-date=June 4, 2019|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1845, [[Alexander Cartwright]], a member of New York City's [[Knickerbocker Base Ball Club|Knickerbocker Club]], led the codification of the so-called [[Knickerbocker Rules]],<ref>Sullivan (1997), p. 292.</ref> which in turn were based on rules developed in 1837 by [[William R. Wheaton]] of the Gotham Club.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://protoball.org/1845_Knickerbocker_Rules|title=Evolution or Revolution? A Rule-By-Rule Analysis of the 1845 Knickerbocker Rules|publisher=Protoball|author=Kittel, Jeffrey|access-date=May 9, 2016|archive-date=December 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205115830/https://protoball.org/1845_Knickerbocker_Rules|url-status=dead}}</ref> While there are reports that the [[Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York|New York Knickerbockers]] played games in 1845, the contest long recognized as the first officially recorded baseball game in U.S. history took place on June 19, 1846, in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]]: the "New York Nine" defeated the Knickerbockers, 23–1, in four innings.<ref>Sullivan (1997), pp. 32, 80, 95.</ref> With the Knickerbocker code as the basis, the rules of modern baseball continued to evolve over the next half-century.<ref>Tygiel (2000), pp. 8–14; Rader (2008), pp. 71–72.</ref> The game then went on to spread throughout the [[Pacific Rim]] and the Americas,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guthrie-Shimizu |first=Sayuri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx2i3f5k6MkC&pg=PP15 |title=Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War |date=2012-04-04 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-8266-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317980360 |title=Mapping an Empire of American Sport |date=2013-09-13 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-98036-0 |editor-last=Dyreson |editor-first=Mark |edition=0 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315872971 |editor-last2=Mangan |editor-first2=J.A. |editor-last3=Park |editor-first3=Roberta J.}}</ref> with Americans backing the sport as a way to spread American values.<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Beyond the outfield: Baseball fiction and historical fantasy, 1864-present |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2142/104978 |publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |date=2019-03-29 |degree=text |first=Debora N. |last=Tienou |pages=1|hdl=2142/104978 }}</ref>

=== In the United States ===
{{Further|Baseball in the United States|History of baseball in the United States}}

==== Establishment of professional leagues ====
In the mid-1850s, a baseball craze hit the [[New York metropolitan area]],<ref>Rader (2008), pp. 9, 10.</ref> and by 1856, local journals were referring to baseball as the "national pastime" or "national game".<ref>Tygiel (2000), p. 6.</ref> A year later, the sport's first governing body, the [[National Association of Base Ball Players]], was formed. In 1867, it barred participation by [[African Americans]].<ref>Rader (2008), p. 27; Sullivan (1997), pp. 68, 69.</ref> The more formally structured [[National League (baseball)|National League]] was founded in 1876.<ref>Sullivan (1997), pp. 83, 130, 243.</ref> Professional [[Negro league baseball|Negro leagues]] formed, but quickly folded.<ref>Sullivan (1997), p. 115.</ref> In 1887, [[softball]], under the name of indoor baseball or indoor-outdoor, was invented as a winter version of the parent game.<ref>Heaphy, Leslie, "Women Playing Hardball", in ''Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box'', ed. Eric Bronson (Open Court, 2004), pp. 246–256: p. 247.</ref> The National League's first successful counterpart, the [[American League]], which evolved from the minor [[Western League (original)|Western League]], was established in 1893, and virtually all of the modern [[baseball rules]] were in place by then.<ref name=R71>Rader (2008), p. 71.</ref><ref>Sullivan (1997), pp. 243–246.</ref>

The National Agreement of 1903 formalized relations both between the two major leagues and between them and the National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues, representing most of the country's [[minor league baseball|minor professional leagues]].<ref>Rader (2008), p. 110; Zimbalist (2006), p. 22. See {{cite web|title=National Agreement for the Government of Professional Base Ball Clubs|url=http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org/baseball/1903NatAgree.htm|publisher=roadsidephotos.sabr.org|access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> The [[World Series]], pitting the two major league champions against each other, was inaugurated that fall.<ref>Sullivan (1997), pp. 13–16.</ref>  The [[Black Sox Scandal]] of the [[1919 World Series]] led to the formation of the office of the [[Commissioner of Baseball]].<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 39, 47, 48.</ref> The first commissioner, [[Kenesaw Mountain Landis]], was elected in 1920. That year also saw the founding of the [[Negro National League (1920–1931)|Negro National League]]; the first significant Negro league, it would operate until 1931. For part of the 1920s, it was joined by the [[Eastern Colored League]].<ref>Burgos (2007), pp. 117, 118.</ref>

==== Rise of Ruth and racial integration ====
Compared with the present, professional baseball in the early 20th century was lower-scoring, and pitchers were more dominant.<ref>Sullivan (1997), p. 214.</ref> This so-called "[[dead-ball era]]" ended in the early 1920s with several changes in rule and circumstance that were advantageous to hitters. Strict new regulations governed the ball's size, shape and composition, along with a new rule officially banning the [[spitball]] and other pitches that depended on the ball being treated or roughed-up with foreign substances, resulted in a ball that traveled farther when hit.<ref>Zoss (2004), p. 90.</ref> The rise of the legendary player [[Babe Ruth]], the first great power hitter of the new era, helped permanently alter the nature of the game.<ref>Zoss (2004), p. 192.</ref> In the late 1920s and early 1930s, [[St. Louis Cardinals]] general manager [[Branch Rickey]] invested in several [[minor league baseball|minor league clubs]] and developed the first modern [[farm team|farm system]].<ref>Burk (2001), pp. 34–37.</ref> A new [[Negro National League (1933–1948)|Negro National League]] was organized in 1933; four years later, it was joined by the [[Negro American League]]. The [[Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1936|first elections]] to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|National Baseball Hall of Fame]] took place in 1936. In 1939, [[Little League Baseball]] was founded in Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.littleleague.org/about/history.asp|title=History of Little League|access-date=June 26, 2007|publisher=Little League|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514082459/http://www.littleleague.org/about/history.asp|archive-date=May 14, 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Jackie Robinson Kansas City Monarchs.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Robinson posing in the uniform cap of the Kansas City Monarchs, a [[Negro League]] baseball team, 1945|[[Jackie Robinson]] in 1945, with the [[Negro American League]]'s [[Kansas City Monarchs]]]]

Many minor league teams disbanded when [[World War II]] led to a player shortage. [[Chicago Cubs]] owner [[Philip K. Wrigley]] led the formation of the [[All-American Girls Professional Baseball League]] to help keep the game in the public eye.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/12/league-history|title=League History|author=Lesko, Jeneane|year=2005|publisher=All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724213445/http://aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/12/league-history|archive-date=July 24, 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> The first crack in the unwritten agreement barring blacks from white-controlled professional ball occurred in 1945: [[Jackie Robinson]] was signed by the National League's [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] and began playing for their minor league [[Montreal Royals|team in Montreal]].<ref>Burgos (2007), p. 158.</ref> In 1947, Robinson broke the major leagues' color barrier when he debuted with the Dodgers.<ref>Burgos (2007), pp. 180, 191.</ref> Latin-American players, largely overlooked before, also started entering the majors in greater numbers. In 1951, two Chicago White Sox, Venezuelan-born [[Chico Carrasquel]] and black Cuban-born [[Minnie Miñoso]], became the first Hispanic [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Stars]].<ref name="P111">Powers (2003), p. 111.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3DD113FF935A15753C1A9639C8B63|title=Baseball: White Sox and Fans Speak Same Language, with a Spanish Accent|date=October 26, 2005|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 4, 2009}}</ref> [[Racial integration|Integration]] proceeded slowly: by 1953, only six of the 16 major league teams had a black player on the roster.<ref name="P111" />

==== Attendance records and the age of steroids ====

In 1975, the union's power—and players' salaries—began to increase greatly when the reserve clause was [[Seitz decision|effectively struck down]], leading to the [[free agent|free agency system]].<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 178, 180, 245.</ref> Significant work stoppages occurred in [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|1981]] and [[1994–95 Major League Baseball strike|1994]], the latter forcing the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 184–187, 191, 192, 280–282.</ref> Attendance had been growing steadily since the mid-1970s and in 1994, before the stoppage, the majors were setting their all-time record for per-game attendance.<ref name="Simm">Simmons, Rob, "The Demand for Spectator Sports", in ''Handbook on the Economics of Sport'', ed. Wladimir Andreff and Stefan Szymanski (Edward Elgar, 2006), pp. 77–89.</ref><ref>Koppett (2004), pp. 376, 511.</ref> After play resumed in 1995, non-division-winning [[wild card (sports)|wild card]] teams became a permanent fixture of the post-season. Regular-season [[interleague play]] was introduced in 1997 and the second-highest attendance mark for a full season was set.<ref>Koppett (2004), p. 481.</ref> In 2000, the National and American Leagues were dissolved as legal entities. While their identities were maintained for scheduling purposes (and the designated hitter distinction), the regulations and other functions—such as player discipline and [[umpire (baseball)|umpire]] supervision—they had administered separately were consolidated under the rubric of MLB.<ref>Koppett (2004), p. 489.</ref>

In 2001, [[Barry Bonds]] established the current record of 73 home runs in a single season. There had long been suspicions that the dramatic increase in power hitting was fueled in large part by [[Banned substances in baseball|the abuse of illegal steroids]] (as well as by the dilution of pitching talent due to expansion), but the issue only began attracting significant media attention in 2002 and there was no penalty for the use of performance-enhancing drugs before 2004.<ref>Rader (2008), pp. 254, 271; Zimbalist (2007), pp. 195, 196; {{cite magazine|author=Verducci, Tom|title=To Cheat or Not to Cheat|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/05/29/baseball.steroids/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601005751/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/05/29/baseball.steroids/index.html?|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 1, 2012|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|date=May 29, 2012|access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref> In 2007, Bonds became MLB's all-time home run leader, surpassing [[Hank Aaron]], as total major league and minor league attendance both reached all-time highs.<ref name="MajorAtRec">{{cite web|title=MLB Regular-Season Attendance Just Shy of Last Year's Record|url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/124427|work=Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily|access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref><ref name="MinorAtRec">{{cite web|title=Minor League Baseball History|url=http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/|publisher=Minor League Baseball|access-date=January 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120173052/http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/|archive-date=January 20, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Around the world{{Anchor|Around-the-world}} ===
{{Main|History of baseball outside the United States}}
Despite having been called "America's national pastime", baseball is well-established in several other countries. As early as 1877, a professional league, the [[International Association for Professional Base Ball Players|International Association]], featured teams from both Canada and the United States.<ref>Bjarkman (2004), p. 73; Burk (2001), p. 58.</ref> While baseball is widely played in Canada and many minor league teams have been based in the country,<ref>{{cite web|title=Canada: Baseball participation, popularity rising across the nation|publisher=World Baseball Softball Confederation|date=October 12, 2016|url=http://www.wbsc.org/canada-baseball-participation-popularity-rising-across-the-nation/|access-date=April 2, 2018|archive-date=April 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402231713/http://www.wbsc.org/canada-baseball-participation-popularity-rising-across-the-nation/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1=Flaherty, David H.|editor2=Manning, Frank E.|title=The Beaver Bites Back?: American Popular Culture in Canada|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=1993|pages=157–158|isbn=9780773511200}}</ref> the American major leagues did not include a Canadian club until 1969, when the [[Montreal Expos]] joined the National League as an expansion team. In 1977, the expansion [[Toronto Blue Jays]] joined the American League.<ref>{{cite book|last=Riess|first=Steven A.|title=Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|pages=172, 656–657|isbn=9781317459477}}</ref>

[[File:WBC2006 Sadaharu Oh.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|[[Sadaharu Oh]] managing the [[Japan national baseball team|Japan national team]] in the [[2006 World Baseball Classic]]. Playing for the [[Central League]]'s [[Yomiuri Giants]] (1959–80), Oh set the professional world record for home runs.]]
In 1847, American soldiers played what may have been the first baseball game in Mexico at [[Parque Los Berros]] in [[Xalapa]], [[Veracruz]].<ref>Terry (1909), p. 506.</ref> The first formal baseball league outside of the United States and Canada was founded in 1878 in Cuba, which maintains a rich baseball tradition. The [[Baseball in Dominican Republic|Dominican Republic]] held its first islandwide championship tournament in 1912.<ref>Bjarkman (2004), pp. xxiv.</ref> Professional baseball tournaments and leagues began to form in other countries between the world wars, including the Netherlands (formed in 1922), Australia (1934), Japan (1936), Mexico (1937), and Puerto Rico (1938).<ref>Bjarkman (2004), pp. 356, 123, 137, xxiv, 11, 233; Gmelch (2006), p. 296.</ref> The [[Nippon Professional Baseball|Japanese major leagues]] have long been considered the highest quality professional circuits outside of the United States.<ref>McNeil (2000), p. 113.</ref>

[[File:Eino Kaakkolahti.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Pesäpallo]], a [[Finland|Finnish]] variation of baseball, was invented by [[Lauri Pihkala|Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala]] in the 1920s,<ref>
    {{cite web |url= http://www.pesis.fi/pesapalloliitto/international_site/introduction/ |title= Introduction to the game  |website= Pesis.fi |publisher= Pesäpalloliitto |access-date=October 16, 2015 }}</ref> and after that, it has changed with the times and grown in popularity. Picture of Pesäpallo match in 1958 in [[Jyväskylä]], Finland.]]

After World War II, professional leagues were founded in many Latin American countries, most prominently [[Baseball in Venezuela|Venezuela]] (1946) and the Dominican Republic (1955).<ref>Bjarkman (2004), pp. xxiv, xxv; Burgos (2007), p. 46.</ref> Since the early 1970s, the annual [[Caribbean Series]] has matched the championship clubs from the four leading Latin American winter leagues: the [[Dominican Professional Baseball League]], [[Mexican Pacific League]], [[Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League]], and [[Venezuelan Professional Baseball League]]. In Asia, South Korea (1982), Taiwan (1990) and China (2003) all have professional leagues.<ref>Bjarkman (2004), pp. 362, 368; Gmelch (2006), pp. 100, 75, 59.</ref>

The English football club, [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]], were the first British baseball champions winning the [[1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Kendrick |first=Mat |url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-the-day-the-claret-and-blues-157375 |title=Aston Villa: The day the claret and blues won the baseball league |newspaper=[[Birmingham Mail]] |access-date=October 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name=Cheats>{{cite news|title=The Baseball Championship: Aston Villa the Winners|publisher=Sporting Life|date=September 3, 1890|page=1}}</ref> The 2020 [[Baseball in the United Kingdom#National Baseball Champions|National Champions]] were the [[London Mets]]. Other European countries have seen professional leagues; the most successful, other than the [[Honkbal Hoofdklasse|Dutch league]], is the [[Serie A1 (baseball)|Italian league]], founded in 1948.<ref>Bjarkman (2004), pp. xv.</ref> In 2004, Australia won a surprise silver medal at the [[2004 Olympic Games|Olympic Games]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Mayo, Jonathan|title=Perspective: Baseball in the Holy Land|url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-501366|publisher=Minor League Baseball|date=January 28, 2009|access-date=February 5, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131063101/http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090127&content_id=501366&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp|archive-date=January 31, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> The Confédération Européene de Baseball (European Baseball Confederation), founded in 1953, organizes a number of competitions between clubs from different countries. Other competitions between national teams, such as the [[Baseball World Cup]] and the [[Baseball at the Summer Olympics|Olympic baseball tournament]], were administered by the [[International Baseball Federation]] (IBAF) from its formation in 1938 until its 2013 merger with the [[International Softball Federation]] to create the current joint governing body for both sports, the [[World Baseball Softball Confederation]] (WBSC).<ref>{{cite web|title=International Baseball Federation (Confederations/Member Federations)|url=http://www.ibaf.org/|publisher=International Baseball Federation|access-date=February 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306131244/http://www.ibaf.org/|archive-date=March 6, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>  [[Women's baseball]] is played on an organized amateur basis in numerous countries.<ref>{{cite book|last=Seymour Mills|first=Dorothy|title=Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with its History, Numbers, People and Places|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=2009|pages=169–170|isbn=9780786455881}}</ref>

After being admitted to the Olympics as a [[Olympic sport|medal sport]] beginning with the [[1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Games]], baseball was dropped from the [[2012 Summer Olympic Games]] at the 2005 [[117th IOC Session|International Olympic Committee meeting]]. It remained part of the [[2008 Summer Olympic Games|2008 Games]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Fewer Sports for London Olympics|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/4658925.stm|work=BBC News|date=July 8, 2005|access-date=September 16, 2008}}</ref> While the sport's lack of a following in much of the world was a factor,<ref>{{cite web|title=Secret ballot eliminates baseball, softball|publisher=[[ESPN]]|agency=Associated Press|date=July 8, 2005|url=http://www.espn.com/olympics/news/story?id=2103234|access-date=June 2, 2019}}</ref> more important was MLB's reluctance to allow its players to participate during the major league season.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Fetters, Ashley|title=Lost Sports of the Summer Olympics|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/07/lost-sports-of-the-summer-olympics/260101/|magazine=[[The Atlantic]]|date=July 20, 2012|access-date=June 2, 2019}}</ref> MLB initiated the [[World Baseball Classic]], scheduled to precede its season, partly as a replacement, high-profile international tournament. The [[2006 World Baseball Classic|inaugural Classic]], held in March 2006, was the first tournament involving national teams to feature a significant number of MLB participants.<ref>{{cite news|author=Isidore, Chris|title=The Spring Classic?|url=https://money.cnn.com/2006/03/10/commentary/column_sportsbiz/sportsbiz/index.htm|publisher=CNNMoney.com|date=March 11, 2006|access-date=February 3, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=McNeal, Stan|title=Your Guide to the '06 World Baseball Classic|work=[[Sporting News]]|publisher=CBS Interactive|date=March 3, 2006|access-date=February 3, 2009|url=http://business.highbeam.com/62653/article-1G1-142729829/your-guide-06-world-baseball-classic|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701033537/http://business.highbeam.com/62653/article-1G1-142729829/your-guide-06-world-baseball-classic|archive-date=July 1, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Baseball World Cup was discontinued after its [[2011 Baseball World Cup|2011 edition]] in favor of an expanded World Baseball Classic.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.ibaf.org/en/news/2011/12/03/the-congress-approved-a-new-format-of-internationa/cd3e0ea8-a62d-4c01-85f5-4c2aafba5119|title=IBAF Congress Approves New Format of International Tournaments|publisher=International Baseball Federation|date=December 3, 2011|access-date=January 20, 2013}}</ref>