World Baseball Cup Concept Dump

Hey guys. Some of you might remember this unfinished series. It was a long concept of if high profile international baseball was started in the 50s, and by this time it would be a massive event.

I did like 10 full recaps of the fake tournaments up to 1989, then stopped. The reason? I created my highly popular soccer template and it changed my whole view on templates, and since this was on my old one, and I had so many done for 1993 onwards, it would have been a bitch to remake.

Since then I learned illustrator and realized how truly hard I made it on myself without using clipping groups on the sleeve and stuff. Anyways, I've been looking at these concepts forever and wanting to post. I believe the document with all my plans are on my old laptop which crapped out and was replaced. So I think this series is dead.

But capitalizing on the WBC trend, I'm gonna show off some stuff. I'll post my event logos, then maybe some highlights for the uniforms. They're all designed to fit that era, and was one of my favorite projects ever.

1993 - South Korea

New super power Korea brought the game back to Asia

1997 - Florida 

This was pre-Rays hype for Tropicana Field, with games in Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville

2001 - Latin America

A massive 4 country bid with Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Venezuela hosting in their best stadium.

2005 - Taiwan

They had 4 stadiums new enough to host games, and would host for the first time

2009 - Caribbean

I believe the second time these two would host. A joint bid since they don't have the 4 stadiums they'd need individually.

2013 - California

LA, San Francisco, Anaheim, and San Diego.

So that's where we are now! Might do 2017 with Australia or Mexico. Who knows. Here is all of them together.

1989 World Baseball Cup

The 80s rounded out with a celebration of world baseball in Canada. The games would be the first event played in the new Skydome in Toronto, the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, and BC Place in Vancouver in a baseball configuration.

The Canadians got their automatic bid, which made things easy on them. The results were very similar to the last 12 team tournament in 1985. Italy was finally able to move past the Dutch to qualify for their first tournament. The Italians got approval to get Italian-American baseball players to fill their roster prior to qualifying. The European teams were granted the same waivers, and would lead to a growth in European baseball in the 1990s. Mexico and Taiwan would advance.

The Canadians had their best shot at advancing due to the home fans, and the freezing temperatures outside. They opened the Skydome with a 3-1 win over Mexico. The top 8 would advance to the next round, and group A all tied in those rankings. It had to go to a tie breaker to decide the Dominicans would win the group. Cuba killed Group B competition, scoring 29 runs in 3 games, and leading to a 1st overall seed. Overall, scoring was up in the beginning of the steroid era, and this was relevant because the Americans put up 28. In their group, only the US and Japanese advanced due to a gap in the skills of the teams. 

Italy surprised the world by leading the Cubans going into the 7th, but would go on to lose 9-8. The Canadians upset the Japanese in Montreal to go on and face the rival Americans. There was a lot of power in the Semi-Finals, as the Cubans and Americans went on to face each other in the finals. The bash-brothers faced off when McGwire and Canseco homered in the same inning. McGwire's was a Grand Slam, however, leading the Americans to their 5th title.

Similar looks for everyone. Italy introduced their racing stripes, and Japan dropped their pinstripes.

1985 World Baseball Cup

As it was announced at the end of last tournament, the IBF would now expand the tournament to 12. They determined teams 8-12 could hold their own against the best of the best, and the worst teams in the world would be weeded out in qualifying. The qualifying provided a surprise with Japan losing to South Korea in the Pacific Division. Chinese Taipei and Canada would advance in the playoff. This made Taipei the 12th team to compete in the tournament.

The structure would now be as follows. The teams would play in their group, then seeded 1-12. The top 8 teams would be put into a bracket and play to the finals. Hometown Mexico had a group play to remember. They played in their capital, and Parque del Seguro Social became the first stadium to host 2 tournaments. They beat Puerto Rico and coasted to a 3-0 record and clinched the first overall seed by allowing less than Japan in a tie breaker. Groups B and C were very contested. Three teams tied at 1-2 in Saltillo, with only Canada advancing forward. Group C was the tightest group. The Americans and Cubans both went 2-1, with South Korea and the Dominican finishing 1-2. All four teams moved on to the Round of 8.

Mexico beat the upstart Koreans to start. Jose Canseco hit a 2 run home run in the 7th to bear the Puerto Ricans, setting up a match up with the Mexicans. The Cubans went out and dominated Mexico. Mexico only got 2 hits, two doubles in the 3rd. Then the Cuban pitching staff retired 20 in a row to win 3-1. The North American match up of USA-Canada wasn't very close. The USA won 7-2. Then the Japanese-Dominican game had almost no pitching, a 10-8 barn burner saw the Japanese face their rivals America in the semi finals. The Americans had a big traveling fan base, but it wasn't enough as the Japanese won 8-2 in Caliacan. That set up the Japanese vs Cubans in Mexico City. Jose Canseco added 2 more home runs to make his total 6 during the tournament. Cuba would hang on and win their first title in team history.

Several changes were made to the jerseys of the tournament. Canada and the Dominicans both wore racing stripes for the first time. Canada brought back a button up jersey. Taiwan's debut jerseys were very amateur looking, with a cursive script and light blue roads. Cuba made their tops and bottoms match, unlike the previous tournaments. Panama introduced a jersey similar to the White Sox's 80s jerseys. Puerto Rico dropped the light blue and recolored several things for this new tournament. Finally, the much loved yellow Venezuela jersey became the home, with an all grey look becoming the road.

1981 World Baseball Cup

Japan was almost a lock for hosting the 1981 tournament. Baseball had grown so much in the previous decade in the Pacific nation. Two stadiums in and around Osaka would be the host of the games. But first, you had to get there. The only new team was Australia, which filled the hole of the automatic bid for Japan. With the Japanese not participating in the Pacific qualifier, that means a new country would make the tournament. South Korea won a tiebreaker against Chinese Taipei after splitting their 2 games. To date, this was the toughest qualifying group. Powers such as the Dominican, Panama, and Canada all were eliminated. The IBF decided that the WBC would expand the tournament to 12 teams, and now look at 3 stadiums per bid to host.

The Japanese played great in front of their home fans. In the classic Koshien Stadium, matched up against the Venezuelans and the Americans in Group A, they survived and lead to the American's first time not advancing into the knockout stage. The South Koreans were put into the group of death, and were eliminated quickly. The other group competed in Osaka. The Puerto Ricans were a tough team all around, and the Cubans had a young Orestes Destrade, both advancing past the Mexicans and Dutch. The absence of the USA made the route to the finals for Japan much easier. The hosts and Puerto Rico both were the favorites to collide in the finals, and they didn't disappoint. In one of the most one sided finals, Japan would go on to lift their first championship in 8 tries.

The only three changes from 1977 was the dropping of maroon from the Venezuelan look. A new yellow and white look would be worn for road games. The Koreans came out wearing white and black for their debut. Simple hats with K on it, the script said KOREA with the ying-yang symbol from the flag in the O. Finally, a more refined look for Mexico, worn by new pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.