National Baseball Congress World Series

From BR Bullpen

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The National Baseball Congress World Series is held annually in Wichita, KS. It was first held in 1935 with Satchel Paige's Bismarck Churchills becoming the first champions. Until 2018, it was staged at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, then moved to a temporary home in 2019 after the venerable ballpark was demolished to make way for a modern facility. It was played for the first time in its new home, Riverfront Stadium, in 2021.

Originally intended as a tournament for semi-professional clubs or town teams sponsored by local businesses the typical makeup of a team changed in the 1970s as most semi-professional teams folded. The teams were replaced with mainly amateur college players looking to impress Major League scouts.

The Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Collegiate League have won the tournament the most times with nine championships.

Format[edit]

The tournament was traditionally run in a double-elimination format, i.e. one in which a team was eliminated if it lost two games, from the inaugural tournament in 1935 until 2015. The 2016 tournament saw major changes as the double-elimination format was replaced by World Baseball Classic-style pool play. This guaranteed teams of playing at least three games, rather than a possible two.

In spite of the change of format, the tournament has retained a division into two brackets, the "First Week" and "Championship Week" brackets, with the top two teams in the first week advancing to championship week. When all championship week pool games have been played, the top two teams in each group advance to quarter-finals then semi-finals.

The tournament organizers occasionally invite teams to play in the tournament, such as the 1995 champion Team USA, the 2003 champion Chinese Taipei national team and the 2017 winners the Kansas Stars.

Champions and MVP's[edit]

2006 Tournament
Year Champion MVP
1935 Bismarck Churchills Satchel Paige, Bismarck
1936 Halliburton Cementers Harry White, Halliburton
1937 Eason Oilers Claude Gilchrist, Eason
1938 Bona Allen Shoemakers Andy Johnson, Bona Allen
1939 Halliburton Cementers Roy Helser, Silverton Red Sox
1940 Champlin Refiners Vance Cauble, Champlin
1941 Champlin Refiners Red Barkley, Champlin
1942 Boeing Bombers Red Borom, Boeing
1943 Camp Wheeler Spokes George Archie, Fort Riley US Army
1944 Sherman Field Flyers Cot Deal, Enid Airs
1945 Enid Airs Cot Deal, Enid
1946 St. Joseph Autos Les Lollis, Carmichael Firemen
1947 Fort Wayne General Electric Bruce Konopka, Golden Coors
1948 Fort Wayne General Electric Veo Story, Elkin Chatham
1949 Fort Wayne General Electric Bill Ricks, Fort Wayne
1950 Fort Wayne Capeharts Pat Scantlebury, Fort Wayne
1951 Plymouth Oilers Steve Repach, Plymouth
1952 Fort Myer Colonials Danny O'Connell, Fort Myer
1953 Fort Leonard Wood Hilltoppers Bob McKee, Ft. Leonard Wood
1954 Boeing Bombers Don Lee, Casa Grande Cotton Kings
1955 Boeing Bombers Daryl Spencer, Boeing
1956 Fort Wayne Allen Dairy Clyde McCullough, Alpine Cowboys
1957 Plymouth Oilers Wilmer Fields, Fort Wayne
1958 Drain Black Sox Jim O'Rourke, Drain
1959 Houston FedMart Clyde Girrens, Wichita Weller
1960 Grand Rapids Sullivans Robert Seltzer, Tampa Gibsonton
1961 Ponchatoula Athletics Al Ware, Grand Rapids Sullivans
1962 Rapid Transit Dreamliners Rocky Krsnich, Rapid Transit
1963 Rapid Transit Dreamliners Sam Suplizio, Alaska Goldpanners
1964 Wichita Service Auto Glass Dick Sanders, Service Auto Glass
1965 Rapid Transit Dreamliners Bob Boyd, Rapid Transit
1966 Boulder Collegians Ray Henningsen, Boulder
1967 Boulder Collegians Frank Duffy, Boulder
1968 Liberal BeeJays Joe Tanner, Jackson Braves
1969 Anchorage Glacier Pilots Chris Chambliss, Anchorage
1970 Grand Rapids Sullivans Rusty Gerhardt, Grand Rapids
1971 Anchorage Glacier Pilots Bruce Bochte, Anchorage
1972 Alaska Goldpanners Kerry Dineen, Alaska
1973 Alaska Goldpanners Lee Iorg, Alaska
1974 Alaska Goldpanners Steve Kemp, Alaska
1975 Boulder Collegians Mike Colbern, Boulder
1976 Alaska Goldpanners Greg Harris, Alaska
1977 Peninsula Oilers Bob Skube, Peninsula Oilers
1978 Boulder Collegians Robert Ferris, Boulder
1979 Liberal BeeJays Gary D'Onofrio, Liberal
1980 Alaska Goldpanners Kevin McReynolds, Alaska
1981 Clarinda A's Keith Mucha, Clarinda
1982 Santa Maria Indians Dave Hengel, Santa Maria
1983 Grand Rapids Sullivans Curtis Morgan, Grand Rapids
1984 Grand Rapids Sullivans Bill Bates, Grand Rapids
1985 Liberal BeeJays Kerry Richardson, Liberal
1986 Anchorage Glacier Pilots Steve Bates, Anchorage
1987 Mat-Su Miners Ken Kremer, Mat-Su
1988 Everett Merchants David Wong, Everett
1989 Wichita Broncos Jim Huslig, Wichita Broncos
1990 Wichita Broncos Kirk Vucsko, Midlothian White Sox
1991 Anchorage Glacier Pilots Chris Hmielewski, Peninsula Oilers
1992 Midlothian White Sox Mike Kane, Midlothian
1993 Peninsula Oilers Jeff Poor, Peninsula Oilers
1994 Peninsula Oilers Jesse Zepeda, Peninsula Oilers
1995 Team USA Lance Berkman, Hays Larks
1996 El Dorado Broncos Kevin Frederick, El Dorado
1997 Mat-Su Miners Jeff Juarez, Nevada Griffons
1998 El Dorado Broncos Jason Aspito, El Dorado
1999 Dallas Phillies Marco Cunningham, Dallas
2000 Liberal BeeJays Cory Metzler, Liberal
2001 Anchorage Glacier Pilots Jeff Francis, Anchorage
2002 Alaska Goldpanners Blake Gill, Alaska
2003 Taiwan National Team Chang-Wei Tu, Taiwan
2004 Aloha Knights Scott Simon, Mat-Su Miners
2005 Prairie Gravel Ryan Anetsberger, Prairie Gravel
2006 Santa Barbara Foresters Jon Qualls/Matt Whitaker, Derby Twins
2007 Havasu Heat Brad Arnett, Havasu
2008 Santa Barbara Foresters Kevin Keyes, Santa Barbara
2009 El Dorado Broncos Jake Sabol, El Dorado
2010 Liberal BeeJays Paul Gonzalez, Liberal
2011 Santa Barbara Foresters Mitch Mormann, Santa Barbara
2012 Santa Barbara Foresters Zach Fish, Santa Barbara
2013 Seattle Studs David Benson, Seattle
2014 Santa Barbara Foresters Jon Duplantier, Santa Barbara
2015 Seattle Studs Conner Savage, Seattle
2016 Santa Barbara Foresters Jacob Patterson, Santa Barbara
2017 Kansas Stars Ryan Langerhans, Kansas Stars
2018 Santa Barbara Foresters Patrick Mathis, Santa Barbara
2019 Seattle Studs Henry Cheney, Seattle
2020 Santa Barbara Foresters Sean Johnson, Santa Barbara
2021 Santa Barbara Foresters Justin Eckhardt, Santa Barbara

Most Championships[edit]

Team Titles
Santa Barbara Foresters 9
Alaska Goldpanners 6
Anchorage Glacier Pilots 5
Fort Wayne* 5
Liberal BeeJays 5
Boulder Collegians 4
Grand Rapids Sullivans 4
El Dorado Broncos 3
Enid Oilers/Refiners* 3
Peninsula Oilers 3
Boeing Bombers 3
Rapid Transit Dreamliners 3
Seattle Studs 3
Halliburton Cementers 2
Mat-Su Miners 2
Plymouth Oilers 2
Wichita Broncos 2
Aloha Knights 1
Bismarck Churchills 1
Bona Allen Shoemakers 1
Camp Wheeler Spokes 1
Clarinda A's 1
Dallas Phillies 1
Drain Black Sox 1
Enid Airs 1
Everett Merchants 1
Fort Leonard Wood Hilltoppers 1
Fort Myer Colonials 1
Havasu Heat 1
Houston FedMart 1
Midlothian White Sox 1
Ponchatoula Athletics 1
Prairie Gravel 1
St. Joseph Auscos 1
Sherman Field Flyers 1
Santa Maria Indians 1
Taiwan 1
Team USA 1
Wichita Service Auto Glass 1
Kansas Stars 1

Note: *Enid and Fort Wayne won multiple championships under different sponsor names.