The Greece national baseball team represents

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in international baseball play. The team are a member of the

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and

WBSC Europe WBSC Europe promoted a Goodwill game between Team Eastern Europe and Team Ukraine played at the Eastern European Day at the Brooklyn Cyclones in Brooklyn, NY on June 1st 2025 WBSC Europe is the governing body of the sport of baseball and softbal ...

. The team is managed by

Chris Demetral Chris Demetral (born November 14, 1976) is an American former actor best known for playing the character Jeremy Tupper, the son of newly divorced New York book editor Martin Tupper (played by Brian Benben) on the HBO Home Box Office (HBO) ...

and it is currently ranked 37th in the world by the

, behind

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

and ahead of the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

History

The first time that Greece put together a national team that got any recognition in the baseball world was ahead of the

2004 Athens Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. Greece, as the host country, was faced with the dilemma that the actual baseball talent pool in the country was very small, and what players were available were amateur. However, as a result of lenient

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

laws, various minor leaguers from the United States were able to play for the Greeks. Among the better known players were

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

prospect

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, former Major Leaguer

Clay Bellinger Clayton Daniel Bellinger (born November 18, 1968) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees and the Anaheim Angels, winning the World Series twice as a member of the Yan ...

and various other players of Greek descent. Greece made its international debut at the 2003 European Baseball Championship qualification, contested in Hungary. The team finished the tournament undefeated and qualified to the 2003 European Baseball Championship played in the Netherlands. Surprisingly, Greece finished as runners-up in the European Championship, losing the final to the host nation, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Second baseman

and outfielder Cory Harris were included in the tournament's All Star Team, while Peter Maestrales finished the championship as the leader in both stolen bases and runs scored. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the Greek national team, led by

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

finished the tournament in 7th-place, with a single win against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. As runners-up of the 2003 European Championship, Greece qualified to the

2005 Baseball World Cup The 2005 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 36th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

; however, the Greek government curtailed all funding to the Hellenic Baseball and Softball Federation, and the team did not participate, with the

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

taking their place.

International tournament results

Olympic Games

European Baseball Championship The European Baseball Championship is the main championship tournament between national baseball teams in Europe, governed by the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB). History Italy won the inaugural European Baseball Championship in , and ...

Baseball World Cup The Baseball World Cup (BWC) was an international baseball tournament for national teams around the world, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). First held in 1938 as the Amateur World Series (AWS), it was, for most of its ...

Current roster

References

External links

www.greekbaseball.com
* National baseball teams in Europe

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

2003 establishments in Greece National sports teams established in 2003 {{Europe-baseball-team-stub