1975 European Championship

The 1975 European Championship was historic in that for the first time ever, the Dutch national team entered a European Championship and failed to come away with Gold after 10 titles in a row, dating to the 1950s. The Championship was held from July 25 through August 3, 1975 in Barcelona, Spain.

Italy outscored its opponents 22-0 in the preliminary round. They split their first two games in the finals with the Netherlands. In game 3, Federico Martone fanned 14 and allowed 3 hits in a 5-1 win. The Dutch won game four, but Michele Romano tossed a complete game 9-4 victory in game five and added two hits as well. Italy had a 1.35 ERA for the event. They were managed by Bill Arce, who became the first person to lead two different countries to Gold in a Euro.

Netherlands went 4-3; they had only lost one game in 49 contests in prior European Championships, making the three losses here a stunning decline. They would fall short again in 1977 and 1979 before recovering the top spot.

Germany had one of its better years, going 3-3 to finish third. They would vanish from the European scene, though, not appearing again until the 1987 European Championship and not returning to the top five until the 2005 European Championship.