History of Pan American Baseball Confederation

COPABE

The Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) is the governing body of baseball within the Americas.

Talks of the need of a baseball confederation in the Americas sparked with the founding of the Confederation of European Baseball back in the 1950s, although it was not until 1984, during the World Cup played in Cuba, that 12 countries of the Americas finally voted in favour of a formation of a confederation.

The first ever Confederación Panamericana de Béisbol (COPABE) executive meeting was held on March 1985, and 11 countries participated in its first ever Congress on March 15. The Congress saw the election of Oswaldo Matias Flores (Cuba) as the first president of the organisation.

On October 5, 1987, the first Pan American Championship was played (Cuba won the tournament). The day after the final game of the tournament was held, the Congress elected Edwin Zerpa Pizzorno (Venezuela) as the next president of the organisation.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s COPABE concentrated on developing tournaments at the youth level all over the Americas.