HISTORY

Learn more about the history between the Alameda World Tournament Baseball and the International Boys’ League. Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information. 

In 1973, the Japanese Boys League sent a team of 14 to 15-year-olds to California to play friendship baseball games. Their goal was to promote international understanding and friendship between Japan and the United States.

They asked Mr. P.A. Shibata, a respected Japanese businessman living in Hayward, to make this dream possible. Mr. Shibata arranged games against the Hayward, Santa Maria, and Gardenia teams. The Japanese team stayed at local hotels throughout their visit. Similar trips occurred in 1975 and 1977.

Several Alameda Babe Ruth Board members watched the 1977 game in Hayward. We saw that the Japanese players came to the game by bus and left by bus. We told Mr. Shibata that Alameda would host the boys in our homes the next time a Japanese team came to California. We were the first city to make a Japanese team an offer of homestay. He asked us to put it in writing and send it to Japan, which we did.

We had no idea that our simple homestay offer would lead to over 250 Alameda players having a chance to visit and have a homestay in Japan, as well as many others playing baseball in Australia, Brazil, Hawaii, Italy, and Mexico.

In 1978, the Japan Boys League asked Mr. Shibata to form a team that would go to Japan for two weeks of friendship games. Mr. Shibata asked Howard Zenimura of Fresno to manage a team composed of players from Fresno and Alameda. Families of the Japan Boys League players graciously invited the young American players to stay in their homes during their visits.

In 1979, the Japan Boys League team came to California again, but this time, Alameda, Fresno, and San Diego hosted the young Japanese players in our homes. Our three teams thus formed a special relationship with Japan. When Japan hosts, our three teams are invited to come to Japan a week before the tournament for homestay in Japan, in Alameda’s case in Fukuoka.

In 1982, an informal organization called the International Boys League was formed. Its purpose was and remains today to foster international goodwill and friendship by holding a world youth baseball tournament each year. The host team invites participants, organizes the tournament, and provides homestay for the players on the foreign teams.

The First International Boys League Tournament was held in Osaka, Japan, in 1982 with four Japanese teams, three California teams, and Taiwan. During the succeeding years, teams from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico Rojo (Red) from Baja California, Mexico Verde (Green) from Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and five from the United States (Alameda, Castro Valley, Fresno, Hawaii, and San Diego) have participated in these tournaments.

Alameda hosted the tournament in 1990, 1996, 2001, 2008 and 2017. We are scheduled to host again in 2025. This year’s tournament in Hawaii will be the 41st tournament (COVID caused the cancellation of the 2020–22 tournament).