Italian Baseball League

Italian Baseball League (IBL)
Sport Baseball
Inaugural season 1948
President Riccardo Fraccari
No. of teams 8
Country  Italy
 San Marino
Most recent
champion(s)		 ASD Rimini
Official website www.fibs.it

The Italian Baseball League (IBL; Italian: Campionato italiano di baseball) is a professional baseball league that is governed by FIBS (Italian Baseball & Softball Federation), which has its headquarters in Rome. The IBL is a wood bat league in which both composite and aluminum bats are prohibited; the official ball of the IBL is the Wilson 1010 Italy. The overall level of the competition is considered the highest in Europe.

Until 2010, the IBL featured a league format that demoted the last place finisher to the minor leagues (Series A2), while the Series A2 champion would be promoted into the IBL. However, in late 2009 FIBS approved the decision to eliminate the promotion and relegation system starting with the 2010 season and thus now applies a fixed-team franchise format similar to that found in Major League Baseball.

The current IBL consists of eight teams, each contesting 42 games; a team plays two 3-game series against every other team. The four teams that finish with the best regular season record qualify for a round-robin playoff. The first and second-place finishers of the round-robin are cast into the best-of-7-games Italian Baseball Series and compete for the championship, referred to as the Scudetto.

IBL players

For the 2010 season, FIBS maintained the number of sport visas granted to non-EU import foreign players at 4 per team. Per EU and Olympic Committee directive, EU citizens will have the same player rights of Italian passport holders. FIBS, however, will continue to enforce the regulation on the Italian School of Baseball that imposes 6 ASI players be on the field at all times of every game, including the pitcher in either game 2 or 3 of each series.

An Italian player is classified as Italian School of Baseball, or ASI, only if he has been developed in Italy or if has played 6 seasons in the Italian Leagues.

EU citizens have the same rights of the players who hold Italian citizenship but were not developed in Italy.

One particular case of the ASI rule would be a foreigner who developed as a baseball player in Italy (started playing as an U15). This is the case of a foreigner who is also an ASI, but will be able to play only respecting the limitation on import players.

Three-game series format

Game 1 of each three-game series is classified as the Foreign Affair Game, with the pitcher's mound free to be occupied by any pitcher including foreign imports.

In either Game 2 or Game 3, an EU pitcher may be the starting pitcher; however, IBL rules require that an ASI be the starting pitcher for one of these two remaining games. Moreover, whichever game a manager selects the ASI as the starting pitcher, then all subsequent pitchers must be ASI. Therefore, there may be ASI vs EU match-ups for the first time beginning in 2010.

Half of the teams are based in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. A team from the Republic of San Marino also plays in the IBL. Like Japanese baseball, many of the official team names contain the name of the team's corporate sponsor.

IBL teams

Champions

Pre-playoff era

Year Winning Team Runner Up MVP
1948Libertas Bologna
Milano-
1949Mamoli Grosseto (LIB)
Lazio (FIBS)		Ambrosiana Milano (LIB)
Ferrovieri Roma (FIBS)		-
1950Libertas RomaUSCM Nettuno-
1951Nettuno B.C.Libertas Roma-
1952Nettuno B.C.Libertas Roma-
1953Nettuno B.C.Lazio-
1954Nettuno B.C.A.S. Roma-
1955LazioNettuno-
1956Chlorodont NettunoA.S. Roma-
1957Chlorodont NettunoLazio-
1958Algida Nettuno B.C.Rome-
1958C.U.S. MilanoLibertas Inter Milano-
1959Coca Cola RomaAlgida Nettuno-
1960Seven Up MilanoRoma S.C.-
1961Europhon MilanoPirelli Milano-
1962Europhon MilanoSimmenthal Nettuno/
ACLI Bologna		-
1963Simmenthal NettunoLibertas Milano/
Europhon Milano		-
1964Simmenthal NettunoUGF Fortitudo Bologna-
1965Simmenthal NettunoEurophon Milano-
1966Europhon MilanoTanara Parma-
1967Europhon MilanoNettuno-
1968Europhon MilanoNettuno-
1969Montenegro BolognaNoalex Milano-
1970Europhon MilanoMontenegro Bologna-
1971Glen Grant NettunoBernazzoli Parma-
1972Montenegro BolognaBernazzoli Parma-
1973Glen Grant NettunoMontenegro Bologna-
1974Montenegro BolognaColombo Nettuno-
1975Cercosti RiminiBernazzoli Parma-
1976Germal ParmaColombo Nettuno-
1977Germal ParmaDerbigum RiminiMike Romano
1978Biemme BolognaCercosti RiminiCarlos Guzman
1979Derbigum RiminiGermal Parma /
Colombo Nettuno		John Long
1980Derbigum RiminiGlen Grant NettunoEd Oliveros
1981Parmalat ParmaPapà Barzetti RiminiJohn Guggiana
1982Parmalat ParmaSicma NettunoGiuseppe Carelli
1983Papà Barzetti RiminiNordmende Bologna-
1984BE. CA. BolognaWorld Vision Parma-
1985World Vision ParmaBE. CA. Bologna-

Playoff era

Year Winning Team Runner Up Result MVP
1986Grohe GrossetoTrevi Rimini4–3-
1987Trevi RiminiMamoli Grosseto4–1-
1988Ronson Lenoir RiminiSCAC Nettuno4–0-
1989Mamoli GrossetoRonson Lenoir Rimini4–2-
1990SCAC NettunoRonson Lenoir Rimini4–3-
1991Parma AngelsFlower Gloves Verona3-0-
1992Telemarket RiminiEurobuilding Bologna3-0-
1993C.F.C. NettunoTelemarket Rimini3–2-
1994Cariparma AngelsDanesi Nettuno4–1-
1995Cariparma AngelsDanesi Nettuno4–1-
1996Caffè Danesi NettunoCariparma Angels4–2-
1997Cariparma ParmaDanesi Nettuno4–3-
1998Danesi NettunoSemenzato Rimini4–1-
1999Semenzato RiminiDanesi Nettuno4–3-
2000Semenzato RiminiDanesi Nettuno4–0Claudio Liverziani (Rimini)
2001Caffè Danesi NettunoSemenzato Rimini4–2-
2002Semenzato RiminiDanesi Nettuno4–1Orlando Muñoz (Modena)
2003Italeri BolognaGB Ricambi Modena4–1Claudio Liverziani (Bologna)
2004Prink GrossetoItaleri Bologna4–2Jaime Navarro (Grosseto)
2005Italeri BolognaT & A San Marino4–3Jesús Matos (Bologna)
2006Telemarket RiminiColonie Maremma Grosseto4–1Mario Chiarini (Rimini)
2007Montepaschi GrossetoDanesi Nettuno4–3Giuseppe Mazzanti (Nettuno)
2008T & A San MarinoDanesi Nettuno4–3Giuseppe Mazzanti (Nettuno)
2009UGF Banca BolognaT & A San Marino4–1Eddie Garabito (Bologna)
2010Cariparma ParmaFortitudo Bologna4–2Orlando Muñoz (Parma)
2011T&A San MarinoDanesi Nettuno4–3Martin Vasquez (San Marino)
2012T & A San MarinoRimini Baseball4–2Danilo Sanchez (Godo)
2013T & A San MarinoRimini Baseball3–2
2014UGF Banca BolognaRimini Baseball4–3
2015Rimini BaseballFortitudo Baseball Bologna4–0
2016UGF Banca BolognaRimini Baseball4–2
2017ASD RiminiT & A San Marino3–0
2018 UnipolSai BolognaParmaclima3–1

Defunct teams

Notable former players

See also

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