2006 World Baseball Classic

The first World Baseball Classic was held between the 3rd and 20th March 2006. The group games were held in Tokyo, San Juan, Orlando, Phoenix, Anaheim and San Diego. The semi-finals and the finals were held in San Diego at Petco Park. Winner of the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 was the Japanese national team after a 10-6 final victory over Cuba. In the semifinals, the Japanese had defeated the team from Korea under coach Sadaharu Oh, they were still inferior in round 1 and round 2. The U.S. eliminated in Round 2 against Japan and Korea.

• 4.1 Group 1
• 4.2 Group 2

• 5.1 Semi-finals
• 5.2 final

Venues

In the following stages of the World Baseball Classic were played in 2006:

Groups

The team for the first World Baseball Classic were selected because they are " best baseball playing nations of the world and provide a global representation of the event. "

Round 1

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Round 2

Group 1

Group 2

Final

Semifinal

Final

Full Time

Attendances and revenue

Because of the lack of interest of the baseball public in recent international tournaments, the expectations of the U.S. media were particularly low. Many games were broadcast only time-delayed and shortened. The fact that the first time many of the Major League Stars competed in the national jersey, but led to relatively large resonance also in the American public, although at this tournament a number of MLB players had canceled their participation. The ESPN who had the sole broadcasting rights in the U.S., reported record ratings for games outside of the Major League.

The revenue of the Word Baseball Classic were distributed to 47% as prize money and distributed to 53% among the organizers, including not only borne by the MLB World Baseball Classic Inc., the MLB Players Association ( each 17.5% of total revenue ) and the Japanese league (7%) and the Korean Association and the World Federation (5 % each) belong. The Cuban team donated their prize money in the amount of 7% of the proceeds to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.