View source for International Baseball Federation

{{Short description|International baseball governing body}}
{{for|the international governing body that oversees basketball|FIBA}}
{{Infobox Organization
|name         = International Baseball Federation
|image        = File:International Baseball Federation logo.svg
|image_border =
|size         = 225px
|caption      =
|abbreviation = IBAF
|motto        =
|formation    = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1938}}
|extinction   =
|type         = [[List of international sport federations|International sport federation]]
|status       =
|purpose      = [[Sport governing body]]
|headquarters = [[Lausanne]], [[Switzerland]]
|location     = [[Maison du Sport International]]
|region_served = Worldwide
|membership   = 124 National Federations
|language     = [[English language|English]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
|leader_title = President
|leader_name  = [[Riccardo Fraccari]]
|main_organ   =
|parent_organization = [[World Baseball Softball Confederation|WBSC]]
|affiliation =
|num_staff    =
|num_volunteers =
|budget       =
|website      = [http://www.ibaf.org/ www.IBAF.org]
|remarks      =
}}
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 It has since been superseded by the [[World Baseball Softball Confederation]] (WBSC), and continues to exist as the WBSC's baseball division.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'''.
Prior to the establishment of the WBSC, the IBAF was the sole entity recognized by the [[International Olympic Committee]] as overseeing the sport, and as the designated organizer and promoter of major international tournaments like the [[Baseball World Cup]] (originally the Amateur World Series) and the [[Intercontinental Cup (baseball)|Intercontinental Cup]]. It also organized the [[2006 World Baseball Classic|inaugural]] [[World Baseball Classic]] (WBC), in cooperation with [[Major League Baseball]], in 2006.
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 [[WBSC World Rankings|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===
[[File:Baseball at the 1912 Olympics--Stockholm, Sweden.jpg|thumb|250px|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, Missouri|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 (Berlin)|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 [[Miami Orange Bowl|Orange Bowl Stadium]] in [[Miami]], [[Florida]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Leslie Mann |author1-link=Leslie Mann (athlete) |title=Baseball Around the World |date=1940 |page=21 |publisher=International Amateur Baseball Federation |url=https://springfieldcollege.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/p15370coll2/id/20987/page/0/inline/p15370coll2_20987_0}}</ref>
=== 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.
In 1951, the [[Pan American Games]] were established and baseball was on the official program from the onset. In April 1953, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain came together to establish what is now known as the [[Confederation of European Baseball]] and organized the first ever [[European Baseball Championship]] a year later.
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.
The exposure of baseball to an international audience continued at the [[1956 Summer Olympics]], which saw approximately 114,000 spectators slowly fill the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] to witness Australia vs. US in a demonstration contest in [[Melbourne]], Australia. This crowd of 114,000 was registered as a [[Guinness World Record]] for the largest attendance for any single baseball game.  (The record lasted over 50 years before it was broken at a March 29, 2008 [[Major League Baseball]] exhibition game between the [[Boston Red Sox]] and [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] that drew 115,300 people to the [[Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum]].)
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 [[Netherlands national baseball team|the Netherlands]] and [[Italy national baseball team|Italy]] to the Amateur World Series for the first time in [[1970 Amateur World Series|1970]].<ref name="game">{{cite book |last1=Schiroli |first1=Riccardo |title=The Game We Love: La storia della IBAF |chapter=L’Europa ha un ruolo centrale nel baseball internazionale degli anni ’70 |url=https://riccardoschiroli.com/leuropa-ha-un-ruolo-centrale-nel-baseball-internazionale-degli-anni-70/ |language=it |date=2012}}</ref>
=== 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 (in Cuba)|1973 Amateur World Series]] to Cuba; Isa also refused to call for new elections.<ref name="game" /> 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'''.<ref name="game" /><ref name="dom">{{cite journal |last1=Yoder |first1=April |title=Dominican Baseball and Latin American Pluralism, 1969–1974 |journal=Latin American History |date=29 September 2016 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.355 |isbn=978-0-19-936643-9 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.355}}</ref>
Other countries to join FEMBA included Argentina, Canada, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and South Africa. [[Dutch Fehring|William "Dutch" Fehring]] was elected president, and [[Carlos García Solórzano]] vice president.<ref>{{cite journal |title=RIFT IN WORLD BASEBALL |journal=Baseball Mercury |date=November 1973 |issue=4 |page=3 |url=https://www.projectcobb.org.uk/misc/mercury/issue_4.pdf}}</ref> The Caribbean federations — Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, and the Dutch Antilles — remained with FIBA.<ref>{{cite journal |title=NEW WORLD AMATEUR BASEBALL FEDERATION WAS NECESSARY by R. Panaye |journal=Baseball Mercury |date=May 1974 |issue=6 |page=3 |url=https://www.projectcobb.org.uk/misc/mercury/issue_6.pdf}}</ref> The [[Baseball Federation of Cuba]] characterized the division as driven by [[Cold War]] political tensions.<ref name="dom" /> However, this was denied by Roger Panaye, president of the [[WBSC Europe|European Amateur Baseball Confederation]] (CEBA):
{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite journal |title=RIFT IN WORLD BASEBALL |journal=Baseball Mercury |date=February 1974 |issue=5 |page=3 |url=https://www.projectcobb.org.uk/misc/mercury/issue_5.pdf}}</ref>
}}
Under FEMBA, the first [[Intercontinental Cup (baseball)|Intercontinental Cup]] was organized in [[1973 Intercontinental Cup (baseball)|1973]]; another would follow in 1975. FEMBA also organized its own [[1973 Amateur World Series (in Nicaragua)|1973 Amateur World Series in Nicaragua]], to compete with the one being held by FIBA in Cuba.
Fehring, with the backing of MLB Commissioner [[Bowie Kuhn]], pushed [[International Olympic Committee]] head [[Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin|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.<ref name="game" />
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 ({{langx|es|Asociación Internacional de Béisbol Amateur|link=no}}), with Manuel González Guerra elected president and Carlos García Solórzano vice president.<ref name="game" /><ref>{{cite web |title=La Historia de los Campeonatos Mundiales |lang=es |url=https://www.oocities.org/espanol/elpelotero_online/histomundi/campeonatos_mundiales_beisbol.htm |website=El Pelotero |access-date=25 February 2024}}</ref>
=== Baseball at the Summer Olympics ===
In 1978, the IOC awarded the hosting rights of the 1984 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles, and [[Robert Smith (baseball)|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 [[USC Trojans baseball|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.
In 1989, the [[Baseball Confederation of Oceania]] (BCO) was established as the 4th branch of the IBAF. The [[African Baseball & Softball Association|African Baseball and Softball Association]] (ABSA) was formed in [[Lagos]], Nigeria soon after, in June 1990.
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 [[Beijing]] [[2008 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/sports_globetrotting/2011/04/us-olympic-committee-no-longer-april-fools.html|date=Feb 2011|agency=Chicago Tribune|access-date=2011-04-01 | work=Chicago Tribune|title=U.S. Olympic Committee no longer April fools}}</ref>
On April 1, 2011, the IBAF, under first-year President [[Riccardo Fraccari]], and the [[International Softball Federation]] announced that they were studying how to prepare a joint proposal in order to revive play of both sports at the [[2020 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110401/ap_on_sp_ol/oly_baseball_softball_bid_1|title=Baseball, softball consider joint 2020 Olympic bid|date=April 1, 2011|agency=Associated Press|access-date=2011-04-05 | work=Yahoo Sports}}</ref>
As part of that proposal, in April 2013, the two organizations began the process of merging into a new combined federation that will govern both sports,<ref name=merger1>{{cite web |url=http://www.isfsoftball.org/english/communication/press_08_04_13.asp |title=World Baseball and Softball Set for Milestone in Bid for Olympic Games Program Inclusion |date=2013-04-08 |access-date=2013-04-15 |publisher=[[International Softball Federation]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513104655/http://isfsoftball.org/english/communication/press_08_04_13.asp |archive-date=2013-05-13 }}</ref> the [[World Baseball Softball Confederation]] (WBSC).<ref name=merger2>{{cite press release|title=New World Baseball Softball Body born at historic Tokyo Congress |url=http://www.ibaf.org/en/news/2013/04/14/new-world-baseball-softball-body-born-at-historic-/75492541-8081-452d-a203-df3523006093 |publisher=International Baseball Federation |date=2013-04-14 |access-date=2013-04-15}}</ref>
The merging was concluded in 2015, and WBSC managed to obtain the bid for 2020 Games on following months.
==International events==
The International Baseball Federation organized the following world championship tournaments before [[World Baseball Softball Confederation|WBSC]] merger:
*[[WBSC Premier 12]]
*[[World Baseball Classic]]
*[[Women's Baseball World Cup|IBAF Women's Baseball World Cup]]
*[[23U Baseball World Cup|IBAF 23U Baseball World Cup]] (formerly 21U)
*[[18U Baseball World Cup|IBAF 18U Baseball World Cup]]
*[[15U Baseball World Cup|IBAF 15U Baseball World Cup]] (formerly 16U)
*[[IBAF 12U Baseball World Cup]]
The first-ever [[12U Baseball World Cup|12U Baseball World Championship]] was played in [[Taipei]] from July 8 to 17, 2011.  [[Taiwan]] won the first title.
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 Baseball World Cup|2011 edition]] in favor of an expanded World Baseball Classic. It was originally intended to be the sanctioning body for the [[WBSC Premier 12|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 (baseball)|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.
* IBAF Africa: [[African Baseball & Softball Association]] (ABSA) - 24 member countries
* IBAF Oceania: [[Baseball Confederation of Oceania]] (BCO) - 14 member countries
* IBAF Asia: [[Baseball Federation of Asia]] (BFA) - 24 member countries
* IBAF Europe: [[Confederation of European Baseball]] ({{Langx|fr|Confédération Européenne de Baseball}}) (CEB) - 38 member countries
* IBAF Americas: [[Pan American Baseball Confederation]] ({{Langx|es|Confederación Panamericana de Béisbol}}) (COPABE) - 27 member countries
==Presidents==
*{{flagicon|United States}} [[Les Mann|Leslie Mann]]: 1938
*{{flagicon|Cuba}} [[Jaime Mariné]]: 1939 to 1943
*{{flagicon|Mexico}} [[Jorge Reyes (baseball executive)|Jorge Reyes]]: 1944 to 1945
*{{flagicon|Venezuela}} [[Pablo Morales Pérez|Pablo Morales]]: 1946 to 1947
*{{flagicon|Nicaragua}} [[Chale Pereira]]: 1948 to 1950
*{{flagicon|Venezuela}} [[Pablo Morales Pérez|Pablo Morales]]: 1951 to 1952
*{{flagicon|Costa Rica}} [[Carlos Manuel Zecca]]: 1953 to 1968
*{{flagicon|Netherlands Antilles}} '''FIBA:''' [[Juan Isa]]: 1969 to 1975 (FIBA from 1973 to 1975)
*{{flagicon|United States}} '''FEMBA:''' [[Dutch Fehring|William Fehring]]: 1973 to 1974
*{{flagicon|Nicaragua}} '''FEMBA:''' [[Carlos García Solórzano|Carlos J. García]]: 1975
*{{flagicon|Cuba}} [[Manuel González Guerra]]: 1976 to 1979
*{{flagicon|United States}} [[Robert Smith (baseball)|Robert E. Smith]]: 1981 to 1993
*{{flagicon|Italy}} [[Aldo Notari]]: 1993 to 2006 (*)
*{{flagicon|Chinese_Taipei}} [[Tom Peng]]: 2006 to 2007
*{{flagicon|United States}} [[Harvey Schiller]]: 2007 to 2009
*{{flagicon|Italy}} [[Riccardo Fraccari]]: 2009 to present
(*) 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tw.nextmedia.com/applenews/article/art_id/2775662/IssueID/20060727 |script-title=zh:棒總會長去世 彭誠浩暫代 |access-date=2011-07-13 |publisher=蘋果日報 |date=2006-07-27 |language=zh |archive-date=2012-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326173641/http://tw.nextmedia.com/applenews/article/art_id/2775662/IssueID/20060727 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://taiwanbaseball.pixnet.net/blog/post/13487228 |script-title=zh:彭誠浩接任國際棒總代理會長職務 |access-date=2011-07-13 |publisher=幻象兩千的秘密基地 |date=2006-07-19 |language=zh }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/sports/27notari.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |title=Aldo Notari, World Baseball Official, Dies at 74  |access-date=2011-07-13 |work=The New York Times |date=2006-07-27 }}</ref>
==Awards==
See also: [[Baseball awards]] of the International Baseball Fedederation (IBAF)
*Senior Athlete of the Year<ref name=2009umpire/>
*Junior Athlete of the Year<ref name=2009umpire/>
*Coach of the Year<ref name=2009umpire/>
*Umpire of the Year<ref name=2009umpire>Cassandra Sedgman, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608114337/http://www.baseball.com.au/default.asp?Page=60890 "Paul Hyham IBAF 2009 Umpire of the Year"]. Baseball Australia, 7 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-07.</ref>
*Member Federation Executive of the Year<ref name=2009umpire/>
==See also==
{{Portal|Baseball}}
*[[World Baseball Softball Confederation]]
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100625032311/http://www.ibaf.org/ International Baseball Federation] – official website (archived)
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