1938 Amateur World Series

The 1938 Amateur World Series was the inaugural Amateur World Series, the first edition of the tournament that would eventually become the Baseball World Cup. Originally known as the John Moores Cup, it was contested by the United States and Great Britain over a series of five games from August 13 to 20 in five different cities in England. The tournament was won by Great Britain, four games to one.

1938 Amateur World Series

The John Moores Cup
Tournament details
Country	Great Britain
Venue(s)	5 (in 5 host cities)
Dates	13–20 August
Teams	2
Final positions
Champions	Great Britain (1st title)
Runner-up	United States
Tournament statistics
Games played	5
1939 →

Two future Major League Baseball players, Mike "Lefty" Schemer and Mizell "Whitey" Platt, participated in the tournament on the United States team.

Background

After managing to include baseball as a demonstration sport at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, International Baseball Federation (IBF) president Leslie Mann, sought to establish an international tournament for national teams (which, at that time, were entirely composed of non-professional amateur players, in the spirit of the Olympics). Mann had first tried to set up a tournament between the national teams of the United States and Japan in 1937, but was prevented by the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War that same year.^[1]

Instead, Mann wrote to John Moores, president of the British National Baseball Association (the precursor to the modern British Baseball Federation) to organize a tournament between the U.S. and Great Britain teams. Though baseball was not overwhelmingly popular in Britain, Moores' efforts to develop baseball in Britain had earned the admiration of many prominent American baseball executives, including National League president John Heydler.^[2]

Moores had established a friendly working relationship with the U.S Amateur Baseball Congress (USABC) sent six players across the Atlantic as baseball instructors the year before.^[3] Mann had long hoped to establish an international tournament "that would be emblematical of the World's title, the same as the Davis Cup is to Tennis; the Ryder Cup to Golf; the Stanley Cup to Hockey."^[3]

The USABC held trials for the United States national team in Lincoln, Nebraska, with over fifty young players in attendance.^[4] England selected their team mostly from the professional Yorkshire-Lancashire League, which in those days was attracting crowds of 10,000 people, though many of the players were Canadian.^{[2][lower-alpha 1]}

Participants

•  Great Britain
•  United States

Venues

1938 Amateur World Series (England)	City	Stadium
	Liverpool	Wavertree Stadium
	Kingston upon Hull	Old Craven Park
	Rochdale	Spotland Stadium
	Halifax	The Shay
	Leeds	Headingley Stadium

Tournament summary

Game 1

August 13, 1938 at Wavertree Stadium in Liverpool

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Great Britain	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	3
United States	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
WP: Ross Kendrick   LP: Virgil Thompson Home runs: GBR: Danny Wright USA: None Attendance: 10,000

The first "test match" was played at Wavertree Stadium in Liverpool on August 13. Before a crowd of 10,000, Canadian-born ace Ross Kendrick struck out 16 American batters, out-dueling curveballer Virgil Thompson. Britain's Danny Wright hit a home run in the seventh inning; in the eighth, Sam Hanna doubled off of Thompson to knock in Sid Bissett, and Larry Marsh singled to bring in player-manager McNeil for a 3–0 Great Britain win.^[7]

Game 2

August 15, 1938 at Old Craven Park, Kingston upon Hull

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Great Britain	0	1	0	0	5	0	1	1	0	8
United States	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	6
Home runs: GBR: Sam Hanna USA: None Attendance: 5,000

On August 15, the series moved to Old Craven Park in Kingston upon Hull, the home of Hull Kingston Rovers rugby league club. The US opened the scoring with two runs from George Binger and Tommy O'Rourke. Great Britain's Danny Cadorette scored in the second, and a five-run fifth inning, highlighted by a two-run homer by shortstop Sam Hanna, saw Britain firmly take the lead. The U.S. scored two more runs in the seventh and eighth, but a rally in the ninth was cut short when O'Rourke was caught out, leaving two men on base, and delivering Britain the 8–6 win and putting them on the cusp of a series victory.^[7]

Game 3

August 17, 1938 at Spotland Stadium, Rochdale

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Great Britain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
United States	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	5
WP: Clyde Dean   LP: Sid Bissett Attendance: 1,000

The third game of the series was played at Spotlands, home of Rochdale A.F.C., and turned out to be the United States' sole victory. However, this game attracted only about 1,000 spectators, due to uncertain weather and the lack of Britain's U.S.-born players. The U.S. shut out Great Britain 5–0, in a game noted for its defensive plays on the side of the Americans.^[7]

Game 4

August 19, 1938 at The Shay, Halifax

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Great Britain	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	X	4
United States	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	0
WP: Ross Kendrick   LP: Home runs: GBR: Chummy McNeil USA: None Attendance: 5,000

The best-of-five series then moved to The Shay in Halifax, home of Halifax Town Football Club. Despite hopes of the biggest crowd to date, the game drew only 5,000 spectators. Again, Kendrick shone for the British side, striking out 12 and allowing only three singles. McNeil homered in the second to put Britain ahead. In the fourth, Hanna walked, Kendrick singled, Cadorette got on base through an error. Wright singled to bring home Hanna and Kendrick, then Benson singled to score Cadorette. Controversially, the game was called during the ninth inning due to bad light, giving Great Britain the 4–0 win and clinching the title.^[7]

Game 5

The world champion Great Britain team

The fifth game of the series was played the next day in Leeds at the Headingley Stadium, the home of Leeds Rugby League Club. The game did not attract much interest, and Britain won 5–3 in six innings, after which the game was called due to rain.^{[7][8][lower-alpha 2]}

Final standings

Pos.	Team	W	L	RS	RA
1	Great Britain	4	1	20	14
2	United States	1	4	14	20

Rosters

Great Britain Player/manager: Chummy McNeil[9] Pos. Player Club C Irvine Ruvinsky London 1B Ken Robinson Oldham 2B Sid Bissett Birmingham 3B Chummy McNeil (mgr.) Leeds SS Sam Hanna Halifax RF Frank Cadorette Halifax CF Danny Wright Halifax LF Jack Ritchie Liverpool P Ross Kendrick Oldham — Jerry Strong Hull — Doc Holden[10] Bradford — Larry Marsh Hull

United States Manager: Leslie Mann Pos. Player C Dean Graff (cpt.) 1B Lefty Schemer 2B Leo Benson 3B John McDermott SS Tommy O'Rourke RF George Binger CF Lloyd Johnson LF Whitey Platt P Virgil Thompson P Clyde "Dizzy" Dean — Charles Tate — Ora Linda — Wendell Ringland

^[11]

Notes

1. Baseball researcher Peter C. Bjarkman, in his account of the Amateur World Series tournaments, erroneously described the rosters on both sides of the 1938 series as "American soldiers currently on duty at European military bases."^[5] The U.S. team did play an exhibition game against Royal Air Force servicemen in Holton (likely at RAF Halesworth) after the main series of test matches had concluded.^[6]
2. No linescore for Game 5 is provided by Smyth.^[7]

References

1. Guthrie-Shimizu, Sayuri (2012). Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War. University of North Carolina Press. p. 171. ISBN 9780807882665.
2. Riccardo Schiroli (2019). The Game We Love (PDF). World Baseball Softball Confederation. p. 21.
3. Leslie Mann (1940). Baseball Around the World. International Amateur Baseball Federation. p. 19.
4. Mann, p. 23
5. Bjarkman, Peter (2007). A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006. McFarland. p. 195. ISBN 0786428295.
6. Mann, p. 26
7. Smyth, Ian. "Baseball Put to the Test — And England beats the U.S." (PDF). Baseball Research Journal (24). Society for American Baseball Research: 131–133. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2023.
8. Schiroli, p. 21
9. "Who's Who in the England Team". Retrieved 11 January 2020.
10. "Doc Holden". 14 March 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
11. Leslie Mann (1940). Baseball Around the World. International Amateur Baseball Federation. p. 25.

Bibliography

• Josh Chetwynd (2019). Baseball in Europe. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-7912-9.
• "1938: World Cup versus USA in Great Britain". Project Cobb. Project for the Chronicling of British Baseball.