USA Baseball was founded in 1978, and is the governing body for amateur baseball in the United States of America. It is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and organizes the United States national baseball team. In 2000, USA Baseball was named the USOC Team of the Year.
USA Baseball organizes various teams composed of High School, College, and Professional baseball players competing nationally and internationally. It also organizes the USA Baseball Championships and awards the Golden Spikes Award to the amateur baseball player of the year.
Video USA Baseball
Men's national team
In the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, baseball was a demonstration sport, but Team USA captured a silver and gold respectively. During the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia, the team won the bronze medal. In 2000, for the first time ever, the team was composed of minor league players. Guided by Tommy Lasorda, the team defeated two-time champion Cuba to capture the gold medal. However, the team failed to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics as they lost a qualifying tournament that saw them lose to Mexico in an elimination game during the quarter-final round.
The USA Baseball National Team is made up of the top freshman and sophomore players of collegiate baseball. Each year the team embarks upon the Red, White and Blue Tour to play exhibition games against various teams in the United States, including an annual tour of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The tour also features traditional match-ups against Japan and Canada. The National Team featured many MLB players like Mark McGwire, Nomar Garciaparra, Troy Glaus, Mark Prior, Jason Giambi, and Adam Everett.
Since 1998, USA Baseball has been selecting teams of Professional-level minor league players to represent the United States in various International competitions including the IBAF World Cup, IBAF Intercontinental Cup, Pan Am Games and Olympic Regional qualifying events. These players are selected by USA Baseball Directors from either affiliated MLB Minor League teams or Independent League teams.
Maps USA Baseball
Junior baseball
USA Baseball also fields the Junior National Team (18-under) and the Youth National Team (15-under).
Each June, USA Baseball sends at-large teams to the national all-stars tournament -- the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars; its predecessor was the National Amateur All-Star Baseball Tournament (NAABT). The tournament features the top 16- to 18-year-old players from various baseball organizations, including the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC), American Legion, Babe Ruth Baseball, Dixie Baseball, National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF), PONY baseball, Major League Baseball's Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), and at-large teams from USA Baseball.
Women's national team
The first USA Baseball women's national team was selected in 2004 to participate in the 2004 Women's World Series in Japan and in the 2004 Women's World Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The women's national team won the Silver Medal at the Women's World Series and brought home the Gold Medal from the 2004 *Women's World Cup. In 2006, the USA Baseball women's national team repeated as the Gold Medalist defeating Japan 13-11 in Taipei, Taiwan.
Team USA at the WBC
In June 2005, Major League Baseball announced the formation of the World Baseball Classic, a 16 nation international competition to be held in March 2006 for the first time. A month after this announcement, the IOC voted to eliminate baseball from the 2012 London Olympic games, leaving the WBC as the only international tournament to feature American professionals.
Member organizations
Player of the Year Award
USA Baseball annually awards the Richard W. "Dick" Case Player of the Year Award, which was simply known as the "USA Baseball Player of the Year Award" until 2003. It votes it every year to USA Baseball's top player. The award is named after USA Baseball's past founding executive director and CEO. Recent award winners have included pitcher Huston Street in 2003, first baseman Ryan Zimmerman in 2004, first baseman Ryan Shealy in 2005, catcher and first baseman J. P. Arencibia in 2006, second baseman Jayson Nix in 2007, pitcher Stephen Strasburg in 2008, first baseman Justin Smoak in 2009, shortstop Alex Bregman in 2010, outfielder Albert Almora in 2011, catcher Reese McGuire in 2012, pitcher Carlos Rodon in 2013, and outfielder Brice Tarang in 2014.
Current national teams
Professional Team
2017 World Baseball Classic Team Coaches
Collegiate National Team
2016 Collegiate National Team Coaches
2016 Collegiate National Team Administration
18U National Team
2016 18U National Team Coaches
2016 18U National Team Administration
15U National Team
2016 15U National Team Coaches
2016 15U National Team Administration
12U National Team
2016 12U National Team Coaches
2016 12U National Team Administration
National Team Development Programs
Woman's National Team
2016 Women's National Team Coaching Staff
2016 Women's National Team Administration
See also
- American Women's Baseball Federation
- Amateur baseball in the United States
- Baseball awards#U.S. amateur baseball
- Baseball awards#U.S. college baseball
- Baseball awards#U.S. high-school baseball
- Baseball awards#U.S. youth baseball
- USOC Athlete of the Year (2000 Team of the Year: USA Baseball Olympic team)
Footnotes
External links
- USA Baseball official website
- World Baseball Classic
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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