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1955 Global World Series
Tournament details
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	United States
Runner-up	Hawaii
Third place	Canada
Fourth place	Colombia
	1956 →

The 1955 Global World Series was the first Global World Series, an international baseball tournament organized by the International Baseball Congress in the mid-1950s. It was held in Milwaukee from September 23 to 28, 1955, and was the first worldwide baseball tournament hosted in the United States.

Background

At the time, the Amateur World Series (AWS), the internationally sanctioned baseball world championship, was on hiatus; it was last held in 1953, and would not be held again until 1961 Amateur World Series.^[1] The AWS did not allow professional baseball players, excluding players active with Major League Baseball and its affiliates; on top of that, the United States had not participated in the AWS since 1942.

Thus, the Global World Series emerged as an alternative tournament, organized by the semi-professional National Baseball Congress (NBC). NBC president Ray Dumont had begun discussing an international tournament that would feature multiple semipro teams from across the globe as early as 1948, supported by J. G. Taylor Spink, publisher of The Sporting News, and Alejandro Aguilar Reyes, founder and then-commissioner of the Mexican League.^[2] These efforts were spearheaded by former MLB Commissioner Happy Chandler, in his role as head of the International Baseball Congress.^[3] Chandler in particular sought to expand and existing two-nation series (most recently played between the United States and Japan) to a series involving four nations, or perhaps eight, in 1954.^[2]

Despite the success of the two series in Japan, Chandler felt that, in order to increase the number and scope of the teams in the tournament, an American city would have to host. The organizers initially looked at Ebbets Field in New York City, put forth by Brooklyn Dodgers president Walter O'Malley, but Chandler instead selected Milwaukee County Stadium, the new home of the Milwaukee Braves. Chandler and Dumont initially sought to host the first Global World Series in 1954, but plans fell through and it was instead held in 1955.^[2]

Participants

Some national teams were made up of their country's professional or semi-pro club champions, including the United States, represented by the Boeing Bombers of Wichita, Kansas. Aside from Daryl Spencer and Les Layton, both former New York Giants players, the team was made up of Boeing factory workers with minor league baseball experience.^[2] Canada was represented by the Saskatoon Gems, which included Canadian hockey international Jackie McLeod.^[4] Mexico was represented by the Refinerias club of Poza Rica, and Hawaii by the Honolulu Red Sox.^[2]

The other national teams were true all-star selections.^[2] Puerto Rico included Luis Olmo, a former Major League outfielder and scout who had most recently played with the Cangrejeros de Santurce in the 1954–55 season.^[5] The Spanish national team classified by virtue of winning the 1955 European Baseball Championship.^[6] Spain's participation was a coup for the tournament's organizers, as the rival International Baseball Federation had not yet been able to involve European countries in the Amateur World Series.^[7]

Venue

Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Milwaukee County Stadium
Milwaukee County Stadium
Capacity: 15,000

Final standings

Rk	Team	W	L
1	United States	5	1
2	Hawaii	4	2
Third place game
3	Canada	3	2
Eliminated after four games
4	Colombia	2	3
Eliminated after three games
5	Mexico	1	2
6	Japan	1	2
Eliminated after two games
7	Puerto Rico	0	2
8	Spain	0	2

References

^ "Historia de la Copa Mundial/World Cup History XI-XX (1950-1972)". Baseball de Cuba (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 7 December 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Buege, 2012
^ "Baseball Interest Growing in Free World". USIS Features. US Department of State. 1952. p. 159.
^ "1955 Saskatoon Gems". Western Canada Baseball. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
^ "Luis Olmo". SABR. Society for American Baseball Research.
^ Julio Pernas López (2011). Strike Two: El Béisbol en la españa de la posguerra 1939-1960 y otras curiosidades del deporte español (PDF) (in Spanish). World Baseball Softball Confederation. pp. 224–26. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
^ Riccardo Schiroli (2019). The Game We Love (PDF). World Baseball Softball Confederation. p. 68.

Bibliography

Buege, Bob (Spring 2012). "Global World Series: 1955-57". SABR. Society for American Baseball Research.
"MILWAUKEE'S WORLD SERIES". Sports Illustrated. 10 October 1955. Retrieved 27 July 2024.