[FuzzyRussianHat]

The 1963 World Baseball Championship was the 17^th edition of the tournament, this time held in the capital of Honduras; Tegucigalpa. Hoping for a championship four-peat, the United States again was unbeaten in Division 1 at 7-0, holding off a scrappy 6-1 Kazakhstan. Division 2 had Italy and South Korea tie for first at 5-2 with three teams at 4-3. The tiebreaker moved the 1962 runner-up Koreans forward. Division 3 saw Canada and the Philippines tie at 5-2 with two others behind; the Canadians moved forward on the tiebreaker. In Division 4, Argentina, Japan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan all finished at 5-2. The tiebreaker system sent the Uzbeks forward for the first time as an underdog to the Double Round Robin.

Division 5 had Mexico claim first at 6-1, edging out Germany by one game. Division 6 went to England at 6-1, finishing one ahead of Brazil. Scotland made it two United Kingdom squads in the elite eight by going 6-1 in Division 7, topping Russia by one. And Division 8 saw an unbeaten France at 7-0 prevail over 5-2 efforts by China and Guatemala.

In Round Robin Group A, Canada was the top team at 5-1. England and the United States both went 3-3 and Scotland was 1-5. The tiebreaker went to the English, placing the Americans outside the final four for the first time in the tournament’s history. In Group B, Mexico and France advanced at 4-2 each, while South Korea was 3-3 and Uzbekistan was 1-5.

For both England and France, it was their first time to the semifinal going up against seasoned squads from Canada and Mexico. The Canadians won their semifinal series in five games over the French, while the Mexicans topped the English in six. This advanced Mexico to the World Championship for the fifth time and Canada for the eighth time. England officially was the third place finisher with France fourth. The finale was a seven-game classic with Mexico outlasting Canada, giving the Mexicans their third world title, joining the 1949 and 1950 trophies.





Tournament MVP went to Mexico’s Dalier Rosas. A 25-year old right fielder for MLB’s Atlanta Aces, Rosas was the tournament leader in home runs (15), RBI (25), doubles (6), and WAR (2.3), adding 32 hits, 19 runs, and a .320 average over 26 games. The Best Pitcher went to Russia’s Mikhail Marakhovsky. A 26-year old closer for St. Petersburg, he made two starts with four hits allowed over 17.1 shutout innings, striking out 32.