History of baseball in Europe

The history of baseball in Europe has varied widely by country, as in Asia or the Americas. Some countries had a baseball presence by the late 19th Century, while others had none by the early 21st.

The most prominent countries in European baseball history are the Netherlands and Italy. The two countries had won 28 of the first 30 European Championships (through 2011) and the Dutch national team had won Silver Medals in the Intercontinental Cup while making it to the medal games of the Baseball World Cup a couple of times and to the final four of the 2013 World Baseball Classic. The Netherlands have produced several home-grown major leaguers, starting with Win Remmerswaal in 1979, and they were joined by Italy, with Alex Liddi in 2011 and Germany, with Donald Lutz in 2013, who was raised in Europe although born in the United States.

The top league in the Netherlands, the Hoofdklasse, dates back to 1922. Baseball in Italy is of more recent vintage, starting after World War II with the influence of occupying American soldiers. The Italian Baseball League has featured dozens of former major leaguers who come for the relatively high pay compared to other European circuits, though many countries have had former big leaguers appear (including the Hoofdklasse, Czech Extraliga, Swiss Ligue Nationale A, Spanish Division Honor, Belgian First Division and German Bundesliga). Future major leaguers have also come up from the European leagues. In addition to native players, Americans have played in Europe before making it to the majors. The French Division Elite helped Jeff Zimmerman on his way to The Show while Roger Deago played in the Czech Republic and Roland Gladu played in Britain before they got to the big leagues. All of the national leagues feature a smattering of former players from the U.S. minor leagues, both affiliated and independent.

Just as Italian baseball was fueled by World War II occupying forces, so too was baseball in Germany. Germany had produced a couple of minor leaguers by the 1950s, but baseball in Germany faded in the 1970s as the generation trained by US servicemen were retiring. The country had a resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s and was regularly producing minor league players again by 2010.

While global conflict helped drive baseball in Italy and Germany, it held back baseball in the Soviet Union and its allies, where baseball was seen as an American influence. The USSR did not field a national team until the late 1980s. Baseball underwent a boom in Eastern Europe following the end of the Cold War, with the Czech Republic leading the way. Russia won Silver at the 2001 European Championship and has produced several minor leaguers, as has the Czech Republic. Both countries have participated in the Baseball World Cup.

Other baseball nations of some note in Europe include Spain (which beat Puerto Rico with a homegrown team in the 1992 Olympics but has since become heavily reliant on Venezuelan players for both its domestic league and national team), Great Britain (which won the 1938 Amateur World Series but has also relied heavily on foreign-born players over the years) and Sweden (which has played in several Baseball World Cups). Spain became the third European to play in the World Baseball Classic, after the Netherlands and Italy, when it qualified for the 2013 edition, although its team was composed almost entirely of foreign-born players.

In the early part of the 21st Century, the MLB European Academy was established so that native European prospects could be tutored by former major league stars. Dozens of Academy graduates have signed with MLB teams; Alex Liddi was the first to make the majors and also the first homegrown Italian big leaguer.

In 2012 Collegiate Baseball League Europe (CBLE) was founded and became the first wood bat summer league in Europe.

Sources include Baseball in Europe by Josh Chetwynd