The origins of the sport known as British baseball, sometimes Welsh baseball, or in the areas where it is popular simply baseball, date to 1892 when the governing bodies of England and Wales agreed to change the name of their sport from rounders to baseball. The roots of the game date back much further and literary references to baseball and rounders date back many centuries. Cardiff is home to the British Baseball.
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The sport differs in a number of ways from the internationally known game of baseball.
Despite these similarities with cricket, the game is much more like baseball in style and operates on a near identical, but smaller, diamond. There are also many similarities to rounders, which is often considered a transitional game between cricket and baseball. The basic concepts of British baseball cross-blend the basic concepts of cricket and the more standard versions of rounders.
The International Baseball Board was founded in 1927 and is the international governing body. The only members are the English Baseball Association and the Welsh Baseball Union.
Men's representative teams from England and Wales meet annually in an international match. The first such international game was held in Cardiff in 1908 and the centenary international was also held in Cardiff in 2008. Wales won on both occasions. As well as the full international, a similar game is held for 'B' teams and for juniors.
The game has maintained a strong following only in two areas - Merseyside in Northwest England and South Wales, especially Cardiff and Newport.
By 2006 participation levels in Liverpool had slumped considerably to a point where only four clubs remained active - All Saints, Anfield, Breckside and Townsend. The game in Wales is in a much healthier state and playing participation in the women's game has actually grown in recent years.
Local league and cup competitions have been organised in both countries for many years and an annual international match between England and Wales has been held since 1908. A crowd of 10,000 watched the 1948 match played at the Cardiff Castle grounds. Internationals were also held at Cardiff Arms Park and Goodison Park, Liverpool. Crowds have declined in the last quarter of a century but the England-Wales match can still draw 1,000-2,000 spectators.
Several players who became famous in other sports have played British baseball. In Wales, these include soccer's John Toshack, Terry Yorath, Nathan Blake and Phil Dwyer, and rugby's Terry Holmes, Mark Ring, David Bishop and Jim Sullivan. In England, the most famous sportsman to have played British baseball was Everton and England soccer star Dixie Dean.
Among those who achieved fame as British baseball players were Welshman Ted Peterson MBE, whose international appearances stretched from the 1930s to 1960s, and Irish-born Richard Paddy Hennessey, renowned for his fast bowling.
The sport is the subject of a song, The Baseball Song, by The Hennessys on their album Cardiff After Dark.
   | BBC Southest Wales: Baseball - BBC - South East Wales Sport - Baseball |
| | SABR UK: A brief history of UK baseball - SABR UK: A brief history of UK baseball |
| | Welsh Baseball on the Web - Welsh baseball home |
| | Baseball Softball UK - BaseballSoftballUK.com BSUK Home News |
| | Grange Albion baseball club - Welcome - Grange Albion Baseball Club |
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