Baseball in the United Kingdom

This article is about American code of baseball in the UK. For the traditional codes, see British baseball. For historical use of the term baseball, see Origins of baseball.

Baseball is a growing, minor sport in the United Kingdom, with an estimated 22,500 people playing in 2020.^[1]

Baseball in the United Kingdom
Country	United Kingdom
Governing body	British Baseball Federation
National team(s)	Men's national team Women's national team
First played	1862
National competitions
British Baseball Federation AAA, AA and A divisions

The sport is governed by the British Baseball Federation, which runs a multi-tier national league. There are also independent regional leagues, and around 20 universities field teams currently in existence. At various times in history professionalism has existed, most notably the 1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain.

In 1938 the Great Britain national baseball team won the Baseball World Cup, and were runners-up in the 1967 and 2007 European Baseball Championship.^[2] They have also qualified for the finals of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. As of 2020 Great Britain competed internationally at under 12, under 15, under 18, under 23 and senior levels. The under 23 team placed fifth at the 2019 European Under 23 Baseball Championship.^[3]

Despite relatively low numbers of participation today, historically there have been a number players born in the United Kingdom to have played in Major League Baseball.^[4] Of over 90 players who have played in MLB^[5] Danny Cox, Lance Painter and Bobby Thomson are most notable. Thomson hit the Shot Heard 'Round the World that took the New York Giants to the World Series in 1951.

Major League Baseball players born in the United Kingdom

Over 90 players born in the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom and pre partition Ireland have played professionally in Major League Baseball. This does not include players born outside the United Kingdom but of British heritage or players who have played in MLB and represented the Great Britain national baseball team, but who were born outside the United Kingdom.

See also: Category:Major League Baseball players from the United Kingdom

Inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Harry Wright, born in Sheffield, was described by fellow Hall of Fame inductee, Harry Chadwick, as “the father of professional base ball” and is currently the only United Kingdom born inductee of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.^[6] Although not born in the United Kingdom, George Wright is another inductee of United Kingdom heritage. George is the brother of Harry, and his parents were born in England. Another Hall of Famer who can trace their ancestry back to the United Kingdom is former British national team coach Trevor Hoffman, whose mother was English and whose grandfather was a professional footballer with Southend United.^[7]

Major League Baseball players who have represented the United Kingdom

Either through being born in the United Kingdom, via ancestral links to the United Kingdom or qualifying via being born in a Commonwealth member nation, a number of players with MLB experience have represented the United Kingdom internationally, via the Great Britain national baseball team. The most notable recent player is Jazz Chisholm Jr..

See also: Category:Great Britain national baseball team players

History

Origins

It is argued that modern "American baseball" can trace its roots to 18th century Britain,^[8][9][10] with the earliest known mention and illustration of the game appearing in John Newbery's A Little Pretty Pocket-Book in 1744. The earliest known rules were printed in 1796, in Germany, as "Das Englische Base-ball". For a fuller context of the traditional codes of baseball games in the United Kingdom see British Baseball.

Although early codes of baseball may have originated in the United Kingdom, the American code of baseball, as North Americans would understand it, started to be played in the UK as early as the 1870s and it was fully developed by 1890, when the fully professional 1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain was established. Since the 1870s many exhibition matches between North American teams have been staged in the United Kingdom,^[11] culminating in the MLB London Series in 2019, which sold out 120,000 tickets in less than an hour.^[12] As a result, a small number of MLB teams have fan led dedicated fan clubs in the United Kingdom.^[13]

American influence in the 19th century

In the 1870s, baseball teams from the United States, including the Boston Red Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics, toured the United Kingdom, in an effort to popularise the sport,^[14] but with limited success. At that time, John Wisden and Co. were the most famous supplier of essential baseball equipment, "as used by the baseball clubs now in England in all their matches", which shows that organised clubs did exist in England in some form as early as the 1870s.^[15] Wisden remains a prominent name in international cricket today.

In 1888 the President of St. Louis, on returning to the United States from their European tour, remarked that "England is now educated up to American sports", and encouraged other American baseball club presidents to continue promoting the game in England.^[16] Later in 1888, John Barnes, of the Western League St. Paul club, discussed his plans to travel to England to establish a "baseball syndicate" in London, Birmingham and other large cities.^[17]

In 1889 the wealthy Albert Goodwill Spalding used his position as a former star player and as a leading sporting goods supplier to arrange yet another tour of the United Kingdom by American baseball stars including the Chicago White Stockings,^[18] building on the earlier tours in the past decades. As with previous tours the cricket establishment of England was used to promote baseball, with the Prince of Wales one of the "very large number of spectators" to witness the game at the Oval,^[19] and over 8,000 attended a game at Lord's.^[20] On arriving at Bristol, Spalding paid tribute to the English cricket star W. G. Grace,^[21] "the best known Englishman in the world".

 

Derby Baseball Club were one of Britain's leading baseball teams in the 1890s

This tour led to a number of new baseball clubs springing up, such as York Baseball Club, formed at Stotts Refreshment Rooms in Parliament Street as early as March 1889.^[22] The most notable of these new clubs was formed 1890, in Derby, as Ley's Recreation Club, by Francis Ley, a local man who had experienced the game on a trip to the United States. Following their first ever game (as Ley's Recreation Club) Ley began to appeal for "professionals aged 20 to 25" and "cricketers who can field smartly" to attend Ley's Recreation Centre to form a club, in March 1890^[23] and Ley's Recreation Club became Derby Baseball Club. Despite evidence showing clubs such as York were formed slightly earlier than or at the same time as Derby, Ley erroneously claimed "we were really the first club formed in Great Britain" when discussing Derby in 1890.^[24]

Ley, who certainly had "introduced baseball amongst his employees"^[25] and was instrumental in providing superb facilities at Derby, was not in attendance in October 1889, when noted supporters of a new National League of Baseball of Great Britain met at the Criterion, London, to formally establish the new baseball association, though he was elected as a provisional officer. Representatives of Preston North End, Gloucester County Cricket Club, Essex County Cricket Club, Staffordshire County Cricket Club, Aston Villa and the National Rounders Association all were represented and elected as officers to the association, with Newton Crane elected to the chair.^[25]

The new association quickly moved to establish a headquarters at 38 Holborn Viaduct, London, from where it would agree on and promote a set of rules by which the new National League would be played.^[26] By July 1890 it was estimated that there were over 90 baseball clubs in England alone, with Derby Baseball Club being widely believed to be the best professional club in England.^[27] Yorkshire proved to be a surprising hotbed of baseball by 1890 when it was reported that "there are more baseball clubs in Yorkshire than in any other county in England."^[28] It was not totally unexpected when the Secretary of Essex County Cricket Club, Morton Peto Betts, resigned his position to take up the role of Secretary of the newly formed Baseball Association of Great Britain, in July 1890.^[29]

Aston Villa, now known exclusively as a football club, won the only professional baseball championship in 1890. The competition was hindered by poor weather and disappointing crowds and made a loss for its investors.^[30] Aston Villa's win was not without controversy, however, with both Aston Villa and Preston North End being found guilty of cheating during the season.^[31] For much of the season Derby Baseball Club did lead the championship, however, pressure from other teams in the league over the number of American players on the Derby team and low attendances led to Derby being expelled before the end of the season, though at the time the club insisted they had "retired" as champions,^[32] despite evidence to the contrary.

In response to the accusations against Derby of employing too many talented American baseball players, Ley wrote letters to editors of newspapers to state "Derby Baseball Club is the only one of the four League clubs to have not imported professional players from America" and went to lengths to point out the lack of support Spalding provided to Derby compared to the other clubs, which he was a major shareholder in.^[24] Ironically, given the finger pointing at Ley for employing too many talented Americans, of the various American baseball players sent across to coach and play baseball in England, in the 1890 season, the most prominent was arguably Preston North End captain Leech Maskrey, who had played Major League Baseball. In August 1890 the Preston club organised a presentation for their captain, who was returning to the United States.^[33] Meanwhile, Spalding turned his attention to establishing collegiate baseball in the United Kingdom^[34] with very little success.

In March 1890 Edinburgh Northern Baseball Club began to meet for practice^[35] and Spalding's influence was obvious when The Spalding Baseball Club of Aberdeen sprung to life in July 1890, their headquarters being at 59 Princes Street.^[36] By August 1890 the financial backing of Spalding resulted in two local rivals emerging in Aberdeen, the Spalding Baseball Club and Aberdeen Baseball Club, who played at The Links. The two competed for the Spalding 50 guinea Challenge Cup^[37] and the right to take on the University Baseball Club of Edinburgh, evidence of Spalding's desire to establish collegiate baseball in the United Kingdom. Wales, possibly due to the continued popularity of British or Welsh Baseball, was slower to adopt the American game. In April 1893 The Cardiff Central were formed, and claimed to organise "the first game of American baseball played in South Wales." They were based at Grangetown.^[38]

The Golden Age and Postwar Decline

Baseball's peak popularity in Britain was in the years immediately preceding World War II. A resurgence of professional baseball occurred in parts of the United Kingdom during the 1930s and baseball enjoyed it’s heyday before the Second World War, but the outbreak of war led to a decline. In this era professional baseball teams often shared grounds with football clubs and rugby league clubs, and drew crowds of up to 10,000 spectators per game. In 1933, in response to a challenge from Major League Baseball's National League President, John Haydler, the wealthy British gambling tycoon, Sir John Moores, established the National Baseball Association and continued to fund the establishment of amateur and professional leagues in England.

Once again American and Canadian expatriates swelled the rosters of the semi-profesional clubs, with a number of the Canadian professionals going on to represent the Great Britain national team.^[39] With this golden age UK baseball achieved a major milestone, in 1938, with the victory of the Great Britain national baseball team over the United States, in the Baseball World Cup. The series was created by Sir John Moores, with the 1939 Amateur World Series competition initially being named the John Moore's Cup.

With the backing of Sir John Moores a Great Britain team was given financial support to compete in the 1939 series, in Havana, as defending champions. In doing so they would have become the first national representative team to compete outside the United Kingdom^[40] but the outbreak of the Second World War interrupted the development of British baseball, the team withdrew and the sport entered into decline. Following the war, in July 1951, Wolsley Athletic (Birmingham) became the first baseball team from the United Kingdom to play in continental Europe, in an official game, in Belgium.^[41]

At present

As of the 2021 season, there were 90 teams from 48 baseball clubs actively participating in leagues, and 1,500 adult and Junior (under 18) players competing for clubs based across a wide geographic area, of the island of Great Britain. Despite being a constituent nation of the United Kingdom, domestic baseball in Northern Ireland is affiliated to Baseball Ireland for practical reasons. Northern Ireland's only team, the Belfast Northstars, play in the Irish Adult League. Despite this quirk, Northern Irish born players such as P.J. Conlon are able to qualify to play for both Ireland and the United Kingdom internationally.

The British Baseball Federation (BBF) is the governing body for baseball in the UK and the baseball leagues. The season runs from April until August. Affiliated baseball clubs pay annual affiliation fees to be a member of the BBF and play in the BBF Leagues and Junior Leagues. There are three leagues independent of the British Baseball Federation: the Scottish National League, run by Baseball Scotland; the Northern Baseball League containing mainly teams based in Northern England; and the South West and Wales Baseball League, representing some of the teams in the South West of England, plus one team in Wales. There is also a full Great Britain Baseball Programme which comprises the Great Britain Baseball Academy,^[42] junior national teams and Great Britain 'Seniors' Baseball Team.

The BBF league format is divided into the national divisions, consisting of four tiers from the National League, down to the Single-A league. At the end of the season, all divisions compete in post-season tournaments where the top teams from each conference play knockout matches, with the winning teams then progressing to the Championship Series. The Championship Series of the National League is best of three; the AAA, AA and A championships are single games.

The Independent leagues compete against the teams in their own leagues, and in 2017 the first Independent leagues finals weekend was held at Hull, which consisted of semi-finals between the champions of the Independent leagues and a final held the next day. This was followed by an England v Scotland friendly All-Star game.

University baseball in the United Kingdom has also been growing, with 20 universities with clubs at the end of the 2015/16 season: Cambridge, Coventry, Durham, Edinburgh, Essex, Hull, Imperial, Leeds Beckett, Leeds Gryphons Baseball Club, Loughborough, Manchester Metropolitan University (Cheshire), Nottingham University, Nottingham Trent University, Sheffield, Southampton, Stirling, Swansea, UCL and University of East Anglia. The university season runs from September to May, the typical off-season for the sport. Without a British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) league, teams compete in the National University Baseball Championships (NUBC) tournament, which happens twice a year, in the spring and the autumn and is run by BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK). The Spring 2016 Champions were Loughborough, who had won the past 3 NUBC tournaments. Despite not having a BUCS league, a Northern University Baseball League was set up for the 2015/16 season, and was planned to expand and be renamed to the National University Baseball League, and have a similar set up to the BBF leagues.

National Baseball Champions

Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Comments
1890	Aston Villa		Preston North End Baseball Club	No playoff
1892	Middlesbrough	25–16	St. Thomas's
1893	Thespian London	33–6	Darlington St. Augustine's
1894	Thespian London	38–14	Stockton-on-Tees
1895	Derby Baseball Club	20–16	Fullers
1896	Wallsend-On-Tyne	16–10	Remingtons
1897	Derby Baseball Club	30–7	Middlesbrough
1899	Derby Baseball Club	14–3	Nottingham Forest
1900	Nottingham Forest	17–16	Derby Baseball Club
1906	Tottenham Hotspur
1907	Clapton Orient	8–7	Fulham
1908	Tottenham Hotspur	6–5	Leyton
1909	Clapton Orient	6–4	Leyton
1910	Brentford	20–5	West Ham United
1911	Leyton	6–5	Crystal Palace
1934	Hatfield	13–12	Albion
1935	New London	7–1	Rochdale Greys
1936	White City	9–5	Catford Saints
1937	Hull	5–1	Romford Wasps
1938	Rochdale Greys	1–0	Oldham Greyhounds	15 innings
1939	Halifax	9–5	Rochdale Greys
1948	Liverpool Robins	13–0	Thames Board Mills
1949	Hornsey Red Sox	10–5	Liverpool Cubs
1950	Burtonwood Bees	23–2	Hornsey Red Sox
1951	Burtonwood Bees	9–2	Ruislip Rockets
1959	Thames Board Mills	12–4	East Hull Aces
1960	Thames Board Mills	6–1	Liverpool Tigers
1962	Liverpool Tigers	8–3	East Hull Aces
1963	East Hull Aces	8–3	Garringtons
1965	Kingston Aces	4–2	Stretford Saints
1966	Stretford Saints	3–1	Liverpool Aces
1967	Liverpool Yankees	4–2	Beckenham Bluejays
1968	Hull Aces	4–1	Hull Royals
1969	Watford-Sun Rockets	8–7	Liverpool Trojans	11 innings
1970	Hull Royals	3–1	Hull Aces
1971	Liverpool Tigers	8–3	Hull Aces
1972	Hull Aces	6–4	Hull Royals
1973	Burtonwood Yanks	23–3	Hull Aces
1974	Nottingham Lions	5–3	Hull Royals
1975	Liverpool Tigers	5–3	Nottingham Lions
1976	Liverpool Trojans	5–4	Spirit Of '76
1977	Golders Green Sox	9–5	Hull Aces
1978	Liverpool Trojans	14–12	Crawley Giants
1979	Golders Green Sox	9–7	Hull Aces
1980	Liverpool Trojans	12–1	Hull Aces
1981	London Warriors	23–1	Hull Aces
1982	London Warriors	16–7	Liverpool Trojans
1983	Cobham Yankees	10–3	Hull Mets
1984	Croydon Blue Jays	9–8	Hull Mets
1985	Hull Mets	10–8	London Warriors
1986	Cobham Yankees	12–5	Hull Mets
1987	Cobham Yankees	6–0	Southglade Hornets
1988	Cobham Yankees	16–1	Burtonwood Braves
1989	Enfield Spartans	15–9	Sutton Braves
1990	Enfield Spartans	22–3	Hull Mets
1991	Enfield Spartans	9–7, 2–4, 4–1	London Athletics	Spartans won 2 games to 1
1992 BBF	Leeds City Royals		Humberside Mets	Awarded championship by walkover
1992 NL	London Warriors	23–0, 5–4	Enfield Spartans	Warriors won 2 games to 0
1993 BBF	Humberside Mets and Chicksands Indians			Title decider not played
1993 NL	London Warriors	2–1	Enfield Spartans
1994 BBF	Humberside Mets	2–3, 10–0, 8–0	Essex Arrows	Mets won 2 games to 1
1994 NL	Enfield Spartans	8–5	Waltham Forest Angels
1995	Menwith Hill Pirates	3–2, 7–6	London Warriors	Pirates won 2 games to 0
1996	Menwith Hill Pirates	14–9, 11–23, 18–12	London Warriors	Pirates won 2 games to 1
1997	London Warriors	11–5, 31–12	Kingston-upon-Hull Cobras	Warriors won 2 games to 0
1998	Menwith Hill Patriots	13–5, 17–15	London Warriors	Patriots won 2 games to 0
1999	Brighton Buccaneers	16–4	Windsor Bears
2000	London Warriors	11–7	Brighton Buccaneers
2001	Brighton Buccaneers	8–5	Windsor Bears
2002	Brighton Buccaneers	5–1	Windsor Bears
2003	Windsor Bears	9–4	Brighton Buccaneers
2004	Croydon Pirates	12–10	Windsor Bears
2005	Croydon Pirates	11–4, 10–9	Brighton Buccaneers	Pirates won 2 games to 0
2006	Richmond Flames	7–11, 8–5, 9–0	Croydon Pirates	Flames won 2 games to 1
2007	London Mets	7–2, 11–1	Croydon Pirates	Mets won 2 games to 0
2008	London Mets	11–4	Richmond Flames
2009	Bracknell Blazers	16–4	Richmond Flames
2010	Richmond Flames	10–1	Bracknell Blazers
2011	Harlow Nationals	13–3	Lakenheath Diamondbacks
2012	Harlow Nationals	6–3	Herts Falcons
2013	Southern Nationals	12–7	Southampton Mustangs
2014	Essex Arrows	5–1, 5–4	London Mets	Arrows won 2 games to 0
2015	London Mets	6–2, 11–2	Southampton Mustangs	Mets won 2 games to 0
2016	Southampton Mustangs	0–1, 7–3, 9–4	London Mets	Mustangs won 2 games to 1
2017	London Mets	15–14, 6–0	Southampton Mustangs	Mets won 2 games to 0
2018	London Mets	16–1, 11–1	Herts Falcons	Mets won 2 games to 0
2019	London Mets	14–4	London Capitals
2020	London Mets	9–1	London Capitals
2021	London Mets
2022	London Mets^[43]	9–4^[44]	London Capitals

Championships by Region

Region	Number of championships	Towns/Cities
London	35	London (35)
North West	16	Liverpool (9), Warrington (3), Preston (1), Rochdale (1), Stretford (1)
Yorkshire and the Humber	14	Hull (9), Harrogate (3), Halifax (1), Leeds (1)
South East	10	Cobham (4), Brighton (3), Bracknell (1), Southampton (1), Windsor (1)
East of England	7	Harlow (2), Purfleet (2), Bedford (1), Waltham Abbey (1), Watford (1)
East Midlands	5	Derby (3), Nottingham (2)
North East	2	Middlesbrough (1), Newcastle (1)
West Midlands	1	Birmingham (1)
Scotland	–
South West	–
Wales	–

League System (2021)

Due to the large turnover of teams (from baseball currently not being a professional sport in the United Kingdom), the league structure changes every season. For 2021, the format is the following:

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
	BBF and Affiliated Leagues
1	BBF National Baseball League 6 teams from 4 clubs
2	BBF Triple-A Division South 7 teams from 6 clubs						BBF Triple-A Division South West 4 teams from 4 clubs
3	BBF Double-A Division Central 6 teams from 6 clubs			BBF Triple-A Division South East 6 teams from 5 clubs
4	BBF Single-A Division Central 6 teams from 3 clubs BBF Single-A Division South 6 teams from 4 clubs BBF Single-A Division South East 6 teams from 4 clubs						South West and Wales Baseball League – Severn Division 4 teams from 3 clubs			South West and Wales Baseball League – Wessex Division 4 teams from 4 clubs
	Unaffiliated Leagues
1	BBL Northern Baseball League Triple-A Division 4 teams from 4 clubs					Scottish National League 6 teams from 4 clubs	Westcountry Baseball League 5 teams from 5 clubs				West Midlands Baseball League 7 teams from 7 clubs
2	BBL Northern Baseball League Double-A Division 4 teams from 4 clubs
3	BBL Northern Baseball League Single-A Division 6 teams from 4 clubs

2021 Clubs

Note: This list does not contain clubs who failed to opt in to the 2021 league system and are officially listed as inactive. Youth teams are also not included.

Club	Team Name	City/Area	Ballpark	Division	Club Founded
Aberdeen BC	Granite City Oilers	Aberdeen, Aberdeen	George W. Chalmers Field	SNL	2013
	Aberdeen Thistles			Women – Scotland
BC Vetra	BC Vetra	Saltford, Somerset	Wedmore Road	AAA – South West	2020
Belles Baseball	Belles Baseball	Slough, Berkshire	Farnham Park	Women – England	2021
Birmingham Metalheads BC	Birmingham Metalheads	Birmingham, West Midlands	Marston Green Recreational Ground	WMBL	2021
Bournemouth Bears BC	Bournemouth Bears	Ferndown, Dorset	Ferndown Leisure Centre	AAA – South West	2018
	Bournemouth Bears (A)			SWWBL – Severn
Bracknell B&SC	Bracknell Inferno	Bracknell, Berkshire	Westmorland Park	A – South	1992
Brighton BC	Brighton Jets	Brighton and Hove, East Sussex	Pavilion Field	A – South	2016
	Brighton Brewers
Bristol BC	Bristol Badgers	Keynsham, Somerset	Somerdale Pavilion	AAA – South West	2008
	Bristol Bats			SWWBL – Severn
	Bristol Brunels
	Bristol Buccaneers			SWWBL – Wessex
	Bristol Bobcats			Women – England
Cambridge Baseball	Cambridge Monarchs	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire	Coldhams Recreation Ground	AA – Central	2011
	Cambridge Valkyries			Women – England
Croydon Pirates Baseball	Croydon Pirates	Sutton, London	Roundshaw Grounds	AA – South East	1981
Cardiff Merlins Baseball	Cardiff Merlins	Cardiff, Cardiff	Pontcanna Fields	SWWBL – Severn	2018
Cartmel Valley Lions BC	Cartmel Valley Lions	Cartmel, Cumbria	Cartmel Priority School Field	BBL – AAA	1993
Cornish ClayCutters BC	Cornish ClayCutters	St. Austell, Cornwall	St Mewan School Field	SWWBL – Wessex	2017
County Durham Spartans BC	County Durham Spartans	Staindrop, County Durham	Staindrop Academy	BBL – AA	2017
East London LATIN BOYS BT	East London LATIN BOYS	Waltham Forest, London	Salisbury Hall Playing Field	AAA – South	2011
	East London LATIN BOYS (AA)			AA – South East
Edinburgh BC	Edinburgh Diamond Devils	Edinburgh, Edinburgh	Bobby Thompson Field	SNL	1985
	Edinburgh Cannons
Essex Arrows BC	Essex Arrows	Waltham Abbey, Essex	Townmead Leisure Park	BBF NBL	1983
	Essex Arrows (AAA)			AAA – South
	Essex Archers			AA – Central
Glasgow BC	Glasgow Galaxy	Glasgow, Glasgow	Tolcross Field	SNL	1997
	Glasgow Comets
Guildford B&SC	Guildford Mavericks	Guildford, Surrey	Christ's College	AA – South East	1992
	Guildford Gold Cats			A – South
	Guildford Millers
Herts Baseball	Herts Falcons	Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire	Grovehill Ballpark	BBF NBL	1996
	Herts Hawks			AA – Central
	Herts Eagles			A – Central
	Herts Londoners
	Herts Raptors
Hull Scorpions BC	Hull Scorpions	Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire	Eastmount Recreation Centre	BBL – A	–
Kent Buccaneers BC	Kent Buccaneers	Hadlow, Kent	Williams Field	AAA – South	2018
	Kent Buccaneers Development Team			A – South East
Kent Mariners BC	Kent Mariners	Aylesford, Kent	Cobdown Park	A – South East	-
Legends BC	Lancashire Legends	Sutton, London	Roundshaw Grounds	BBF NBL	2020
	London Legends
Leicester Blue Sox	Leicester Blue Sox	Leicester, Leicestershire	Western Park	WMBL	2006
Liverpool Trojans BC	Liverpool Trojans	Sefton, Merseyside	Bootle Stadium	BBL – AAA	1946
	Liverpool Twojans			BBL – AA
London Mets B&SC	London Mets	Haringey, London	Finsbury Park	BBF NBL	1988
	London Capitals
	London Mammoths			AAA – South
	London Marauders
	London Musketeers			AA – South East
	London Sidewinders
	London Minotaurs			A – Central
	London Mustangs
	London Mayhem			Women – England
Long Eaton Storm	Long Eaton Storm	Long Eaton, Derbyshire	West Park Leisure Centre	WMBL	2014
Manchester BC	Manchester As	Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester	Wythenshawe Park	BBL – AAA	1947
	Manchester Bees			BBL – A
Milton Keynes BC	Milton Keynes Bucks	Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire	Woughton on the Green	AA – Central	1986
Newcastle Nighthawks BC	Newcastle Nighthawks	Newcastle, Tyne and Wear	Gosforth Sports Association	BBL – AA	2017
Norwich Baseball	Norwich Iceni	Norwich, Norfolk	University of East Anglia	AA – Central	2017
Oxford Kings BC	Oxford Kings	Oxford, Oxfordshire	Horspath Sports Ground	AA – Central	1998
Redbacks BC	Essex Redbacks	Chelmsford, Essex	Melbourne Park	AAA – South	–
	Essex Redbacks (A)			A – Central
Richmond B&SC	Richmond Knights	Richmond upon Thames, London	Flood Field	AAA – South	1992
	Richmond Dragons			AA – South East
	Richmond Dukes			A – South
Sheffield Bladerunners	Sheffield Bladerunners I	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Forge Valley	BBL – AAA	1985
	Sheffield Bladerunners II
	Sheffield Bladerunners III			BBL – A
Sheffield Bruins BC	Sheffield Bruins	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Thorpe Green Park	BBL – AAA	2018
	Sheffield Cubs			BBL – A
	Sheffield Bruins Women			Women – England
South Coast Pirates BC	South Coast Pirates	Hastings, East Sussex	Bexhill Park	A – South East	2018
	South Coast Seadogs
Stourbridge Titans BC	Stourbridge Titans	Stourbridge, West Midlands	Gibson Field	WMBL	2011
Taunton Muskets BC	Taunton Muskets	Taunton, Somerset	Muskets Field	SWWBL – Wessex	2014
Tayport Breakers BC	Tayport Breakers	Tayport, Fife	Tom Waddell Memorial Baseball Field	SNL	2020
Telford BC	Telford Giants	Telford, Shropshire	Meadow Recreation Ground	WMBL	2020
	Telford 26ers			Women – England
Tonbridge Baseball	Tonbridge Bobcats	Tonbridge, Kent	Borley Field	A – South East	1982
	Tonbridge Wildcats
SW Rebeldes BC	SW Rebeldes	Saltford, Somerset	Wedmore Road	AAA – South West	2020
Women's Baseball UK	WB-UK Nomads	n/a – travelling team	n/a	Women – Scotland	2021
Weston Jets BC	Weston Jets	Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset	Hutton Moor	SWWBL – Wessex	2018
Wolverhampton BC	Wolverhampton Wolves	Wolverhampton, West Midlands	Colton Hills Community School	WMBL	2019
Worcester BC	Worcester Sorcerers	Worcester, Worcestershire	Merlin Field	WMBL	2019

See also

• Baseball awards#United Kingdom
• Baseball awards#Europe
• British Baseball

References

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4. Katz, Gregory (27 June 2019). "Baseball hasn't taken off in Britain, despite deep roots there". Global News. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
5. Lynch, Steven (9 April 2013). "Britain's Baseball Stars". ESPN. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
6. "HARRY WRIGHT". Retrieved 26 December 2022.
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8. Hooper, Simon. "Did baseball begin in 18th-century England?". CNN. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
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External links

• BBF (British Baseball Federation)
• Great Britain National Baseball Team
• , the Project for the Chronicling of British Baseball.
• , the home of baseball scoring in the UK.