World Port Tournament

World Port Tournament
Tournament information
SportBaseball
LocationRotterdam, the Netherlands
Established1984
Final year2019
Teams5
Most championships Cuba (10)
Websiteworldporttournament.nl
Final champion
 Netherlands (2019)

The World Port Tournament was an international baseball tournament held at the Neptunus Familiestadion in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The tournament was held every two years in odd-numbered years (2005 excluded) since 1985, alternating with the Haarlem Baseball Week. The last edition of the tournament was held in 2019, with subsequent editions cancelled.[1][2]

The tournament was created by Bram Peper, who was asked by Cuban Dr. Oscar Ferdinand Mell to organize an international baseball tournament featuring baseball teams from all over the world in Rotterdam. The Netherlands national team competed frequently in the tournament, while semi-professional teams from the United States and other countries competed in early editions of the tournament.[3][4] Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven competed in the 1993 tournament, won by a team of mostly American minor league players.[5][6] The tournament used the organist and mascot from the minor-league Wilmington Blue Rocks in 1999.[7] The Netherlands won the most recent edition of the tournament.[8]

Results

Year Final 3rd/4th place
Champions Runners-up 3rd place 4th place
1985
Habana

Kobe

Dallas[9]

Netherlands
1987
Habana

Chinese Taipei

Netherlands

Osaka
1989
Netherlands

Baltimore

Habana

Chinese Taipei
1991
Baltimore

Canada

Habana

Curaçao
1993
MLB All-Stars

Red Machine

Netherlands

Canada
1995
Habana

Netherlands

Red Machine

Hyundai Phoenix
1997
Cuba

Netherlands

Chinese Taipei

Baltimore Corrigans
1999
Netherlands

Cuba

Grand Rapids Sullivans

Chinese Taipei
2001
Cuba

Netherlands

Italy

Chinese Taipei
2003
Cuba

Netherlands

Chinese Taipei

Eastern Connecticut
2007
Details

Cuba

Chinese Taipei

United States

Netherlands
2009
Details

Cuba

Netherlands

Chinese Taipei

Japan
2011
Details

Chinese Taipei

Cuba

Netherlands

Curaçao
2013
Details

Cuba

Netherlands

Chinese Taipei

Curaçao
2015
Details

Cuba

Netherlands

Curaçao

Japan
2017
Details

Chinese Taipei

Japan

Curaçao

Netherlands
2019
Details

Netherlands

Japan

Chinese Taipei
North America

Sources[6][10]

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Cuba102214
2 Netherlands37313
3 Chinese Taipei12259
4 United States2136
5 Japan0303
6 Aruba0112
7 Canada0101
8 Curaçao0022
9 Italy0011
Totals (9 entries)17171751
  • ^1 Chinese Taipei is the official WBSC designation for the team representing the state officially referred to as the Republic of China, more commonly known as Taiwan. (See also political status of Taiwan for details.)

See also

References

  1. ^ "World Port Tournament 2021". HonkbalSoftbal.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2025-05-06.
  2. ^ "Gaat de naam 'WPT' uit het honkbal verdwijnen? Bond wil niet samenwerken met huidige organisatie". rijnmond.nl (in Dutch). 2023-07-14. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
  3. ^ "Pitcher Dave Tripp making the most of his Johnny's experience". Baltimore Sun. 1989-07-13. p. E6. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  4. ^ Williams, Andre (1991-07-03). "Johnny's packs pride for trip to world tourney Perennial champs hope to face Cuba". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2026-01-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. ^ Lidz, Franz (1993-07-05). "Bert Blyleven". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2022-08-15.
  6. ^ a b "History - Alle uitslagen". World Port Tournament (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2004-06-01. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  7. ^ Miller, John (1999-07-09). "Baseball's distinctly Dutch touch; Stadium: Europe's biggest ball field — expandable to 6,000 seats — has opened in Rotterdam. And though it's patterned after U.S. parks, it offers some surprising twists". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  8. ^ Würfel, Philipp (2019-07-22). "World Port Tournament 2019: Netherlands rally against Japan to win first WPT since 1999". mister-baseball.com. Retrieved 2026-01-29.
  9. ^ Wilson, Norman (1985-06-23). "Jackson turns good will ambassador". McKinney Courier-Gazette. p. 9. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  10. ^ "Eindstanden". World Port Tournament (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2026-01-16.