Bundesliga (baseball)
Encyclopedia
The Baseball-Bundesliga is the elite competition for the sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

 of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. In it, the men's German championship
German champions (baseball)
In baseball, the German championship of the men is determined in the Baseball Bundesliga.In softball, the German championship of the women is determined in the Softball Bundesliga....

 is determined annually. Like most European sports league
Sports league
League is a term commonly used to describe a group of sports teams or individual athletes that compete against each other in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete on weekends; at its most complex, it can be an...

s, the Bundesliga uses a system of promotion and relegation
Promotion and relegation
In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...

. The highest division of the Bundesliga currently consists of fifteen teams in two divisions, with each team playing four games against each other team. The league is regulated by the German Baseball and Softball Association (DBV).

History

A precursor to the baseball-bundesliga was founded between 1951, with the Stuttgart Phillies winning the inaugural national championship. However, the league disbanded following the 1970 season, leaving Germany without a national league for 11 years.

The baseball-bundesliga, in its current incarnation, was established in 1982. Two teams produced dynasties during the league's first two decades of operation: the Mannheim Tornados
Mannheim Tornados
The Mannheim Tornados are a baseball and softball club from Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. Founded in 1975, it is the oldest continuing baseball club in Germany. The first men's team plays in the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga and has won 11 championships, the most of any club to reach...

 won every championship from 1984 to 1989, and the Paderborn Untouchables
Paderborn Untouchables
The Paderborn Untouchables , is a German baseball team in the Baseball-Bundesliga located in the city of Paderborn in Nordrhein-Westfalen. The club was established in 1990....

 won every championship from 2001 to 2005. The league claims that in 1990, there were 2000 baseball players in Germany, while that number has grown to exceed 30,000 today.

In 2010, the league promoted the Dohren Wild Farmers and the Neuenburg Atomics. At the end of the season, the Neuenburg Atomics were relegated with the worst record in the Southern Division (1-27). The Saarlouis Hornets voluntarily relegated themselves for financial reasons, despite posting the best record (19-21) in a ten year history in the first division, causing the Southern Division to contract from eight to seven teams. The two teams were replaced by the Bad Homburg Hornets. In the Northern Division, the Cologne Cardinals were relegated at the end the season and replaced by the champions of the second division, the Berlin Sluggers
Berlin Sluggers
The Berlin Sluggers, officially named "Sluggers eV Berlin", is a baseball club founded on October 1, 1985 in Berlin, Germany, making it the oldest baseball club in Berlin. The first men's team played a few seasons in the first division of the German Baseball Bundesliga in the early nineties and...

.

A motion to reduce the league from 16 to 12 teams was denied by a Competition Commission established by the DBV prior to a general meeting of all the baseball clubs in Germany in Frankfurt am Main on November 13, 2010. At the meeting itself, it was agreed to add an All Star Game for the 2012 season.

2011 Teams, Division I


Northern Division
  • Solingen Alligators
    Solingen Alligators
    The Solingen Alligators are a baseball and softball club from Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 1991 and the first men's team was promoted to the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga for the 2003 season. It has played there in every season since, winning its only...

  • Paderborn Untouchables
    Paderborn Untouchables
    The Paderborn Untouchables , is a German baseball team in the Baseball-Bundesliga located in the city of Paderborn in Nordrhein-Westfalen. The club was established in 1990....

  • Dortmund Wanderers
  • Bonn Capitals
  • HSV Stealers
    Hamburger SV
    Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

  • Berlin Sluggers
    Berlin Sluggers
    The Berlin Sluggers, officially named "Sluggers eV Berlin", is a baseball club founded on October 1, 1985 in Berlin, Germany, making it the oldest baseball club in Berlin. The first men's team played a few seasons in the first division of the German Baseball Bundesliga in the early nineties and...

  • Pulheim Gophers
    Pulheim Gophers
    The Pulheim Gophers are a baseball and softball club from Pulheim, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 1989, and the first men's team was promoted to the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga in 2008, having previously played in the first division for the 2001, 2002 and 2004 seasons...

  • Dohren Wild Farmers

Southern Division
  • Heidenheim Heideköpfe
    Heidenheim Heideköpfe
    Heidenheim Heideköpfe is a baseball and softball club from Heidenheim an der Brenz, Baden-Württemberg. The club was established in 1992 as the baseball arm of Heidenheimer Sportbund , a parent organization that contains several clubs in different sports, and played its first season in 1993 in the...

  • Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg
    Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg
    Regensburg Legionaere is a baseball and softball club from Regensburg, Bavaria. The team is also known as Buchbinder Legionaere, following a sponsorship deal with German car rental company Buchbinder Autovermietung ....

  • Mannheim Tornados
    Mannheim Tornados
    The Mannheim Tornados are a baseball and softball club from Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. Founded in 1975, it is the oldest continuing baseball club in Germany. The first men's team plays in the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga and has won 11 championships, the most of any club to reach...

  • Mainz Athletics
    Mainz Athletics
    The Baseball- und Softball-Club Mainz Athletics 1988 e.V. is a German baseball and softball club located in the city of Mainz in Rhineland-Palatinate. The Athletics, along with Buchbinder Legionäre, is one of the largest clubs in the Baseball-Bundesliga Süd in terms of membership, claiming to have...

  • Haar Disciples
    Haar Disciples
    The Haar Disciples, officially named "Disciples Muenchen-Haar e.V. von 1990", is a baseball club founded in 1990 in Haar, a suburb of Munich. The first men's team plays in the German Baseball Bundesliga...

  • Bad Homburg Hornets
  • Gauting Indians
    Gauting Indians
    The Gauting Indians are a baseball and softball club from Gauting, a suburb of Munich. The club's first men's team currently plays in the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga...


External links

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