1967 European Championships

The 1967 European Championship was highly unusual in that neither Italy nor the Netherlands won, an extremely rare occurrence for a European Championship. The reason for this is not that the two powers did not play well, but that they boycotted the event due to complaints over the process of selecting the head of the European baseball federation. As a result, the event (held from August 6 through August 12 in Antwerp, Belgium) produced the most recent (through 2008) European Champion other than Italy or the Netherlands.

Belgium won the Gold Medal, going 4-0, for the highlight of their baseball century. Edgard Vaerendonck hit .346 to pace all players while Edmond van Trichtreldt was named the best pitcher in the tourney.

United Kingdom made its European Championship debut and won Silver at 3-1; it would be 40 years until their next Silver due to conflict between the northern and southern sections of the country. Terry Warner struck out 14 in a win over Sweden.

Germany went 2-2 and won Bronze, part of their best decade of the 20th Century. Roland Hoffmann was named tournament MVP.

Spain, which won more Bronze Medals than any other team in the 20th Century, surprisingly was unable to take advantage of the weakened field and didn't even take a Medal. They were 1-3.