The first baseball game in Ireland was held in Dublin in 1874, and it continues to be played by several teams including in the

Irish Baseball League The Irish Baseball League (IBL) is the men's league in Ireland. It started play in 1997. The season runs from March to October and are played on the weekends. Club sides and fields The O'Malley Fields at Corkagh Park in Clondalkin, West Dublin ...

Baseball Ireland The Irish Baseball and Softball Federation, also known as Baseball Ireland, is the governing body of baseball and softball on the island of Ireland, covering both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Baseball Ireland is responsible for th ...

is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

on the island of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, covering both

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

History

The first baseball game in Ireland was played in 1874, when the Boston Red Stockings played the Philadelphia Athletics in Dublin. In 1942 and 1943, several games were played in Belfast among teams of US servicemen. The first organized baseball team in Ireland was the Tramore Sea Lions. The Sea Lions were a youth team in Tramore, County Waterford. The team was organized and coached by local businessman Clive Butterworth. The success of the Tramore Sea Lions in the local community soon led to the creation of the Waterford Walruses, a team based in nearby Waterford City. In 1962, Clive Butterworth brought two United States Air Force baseball teams to Waterford for an exhibition game. The game was played on Waterford GAA grounds. Butterworth also brought baseball to Dublin in the early 1960s, bringing the total number of Irish baseball teams to three. Within a few years, Butterworth’s declining health led to the end of organized baseball in Ireland for nearly three decades. In 2019, the Irish American Baseball Society and Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame announced the creation of the Clive Butterworth Award. The award recognizes outstanding volunteer service among youth baseball coaches in Ireland.

Ireland's National Baseball Team

The Irish National Baseball Team has been in existence since 1996 and has taken part in several major baseball tournaments and tours. Ireland played its first game in international competition in 1996 against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, losing by a score of 23-2. Ireland's national team has won at least one game in every tournament it has entered including 1996, in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-ea ...

. '' The Emerald Diamond'', a documentary film released in 2006, chronicled the history of baseball in Ireland and the Irish National Baseball Team.

Competition

The Irish National Baseball Team won its first bronze medal at the 2004 European Championships in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In August 2006, the Irish National Baseball Team won the silver medal at the European Championships held in Antwerp, Belgium. They also competed in the European championships held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, Stockholm, Karlovac, Abranches, Antwerp, Barcelona and Ljubljana. In 2018, the team won the gold medal at the European Baseball Championship tournament held at the International Baseball Centre in

Ashbourne, County Meath Ashbourne, historically called ''Killeglan'' or ''Kildeglan'' (), is a town in County Meath, Ireland. Located about 20 km north of Dublin and close to the M2 motorway, Ashbourne is a commuter town within Greater Dublin. In the 20 years b ...

. By winning, the team advanced to the next round of Olympic qualifying in 2019.

Irish Baseball League

Although the existence of baseball in Ireland is not widely known, the game has been played there since the early 1990s. What began with a few friends playing pickup games on football and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

fields in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and

Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered by the Irish Sea to ...

, soon grew into a small league. In the years since, baseball has spread throughout Ireland, and is currently played in Ashbourne,

Clones Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, County Fermanagh * Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland Biology * Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...

, Cork, Shankhill, Greystones,

and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. The Irish Baseball League was founded in 1997. Participating teams come from Dublin, Ashbourne, Belfast, Clones, Cork,

& Portmarnock. Baseball Ireland is the

on the island of

, covering both

and the

Competing Teams

Youth baseball

The Irish cadet team (13–18) played in a Dutch tournament held in Alphen aan den Rijn

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In this competition they came home with a bronze medal but also much experience gained from the club BSC Alphians who won the tournament.

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Pirates got the runners-up prize.

References

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...