The 1890 ill-fated attempt at professional baseball in Britain has long been forgotten, a Golden Age dawned in the 1930s. Professional clubs began to emerge, with large crowds attracted to games that were hosted in Rugby or Association Football grounds. In 1933, Sir John Moores, businessman and gambling industry tycoon founded the National Baseball Association to continue to fund the establishment of amateur and professional teams in England. The culmination of this Golden Age was the 1938 Amateur World Series, five games were played across the north of England to crowds thousands strong, the British amateurs beat the US side, which had two future Major League ball players in it’s ranks, Mike ‘Lefty’ Schemer and Mizell ‘ Whitey’ Platt, 4-1.
The interruption of the Second World War put an abrupt halt to the growth of Baseball in Britain and the sport went into decline, but what if it didn’t… What if baseball had more firmly planted itself in the conscious of British people as to survive the wartime lull, perhaps it was taken up with greater enthusiasm in schools, then during the war factory leagues were set up for the workers, maybe as the war comes to a close and the risk of German bombing no longer exists, Major League teams play games exhibition games in Britain for American troops stationed there and to grow the game… As Europe rebuilds, Baseball in Britain is reborn.
The John Moores Cup, awarded to the winners of the 1938 Amateur World Series.