1977 European Championship

The 1977 European Championship was held from July 23 through July 31, 1977 in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Despite home field advantage, the Netherlands is not able to reclaim their pre-1975 stronghold on first place as Italy proved 1975 was no fluke by pulling off a repeat Gold. Over 40,000 people came out for the tournament, including Peter O'Malley.

 Italy went 6-2 to win Gold, topping the Dutch squad in 3 of 4 games in the finals (7-4, 4-1 and 1-0 after losing 2-1 in the opener). Italy hit .362 and had a 1.10 team ERA. Riccardo Landucci was named the best hitter. Ted Alfieri won MVP honors.

 Netherlands was 4-0 in the preliminary round but 1-3 in the championship round. Bertil Haage was named best pitcher.

 Belgium finished 4-2, never losing to the bottom two teams or beating the top two.

 Sweden placed 4th at 1-5, with their only win coming against Spain.

 Spain beat Sweden 8-3 in the preliminary round but lost to them 2-0 in the 3rd-5th place group finals to finish last.

Source: Baseball in Europe by Josh Chetwynd

Also see 1977 European Championship (Rosters)