[FuzzyRussianHat]

The 1969 World Baseball Championship was the 23^rd installment of the event and the first to be held in South Korea, hosted by Busan. The big stunner happened in Division 1 as Haiti took the top spot over the defending champion and perennial top dog United States. The Haitians went 7-0 for their first ever division title while the Americans were 6-1 and Cuba was 5-2. It is only the second time in tournament history that the US didn’t get to the elite eight or deeper. Division 2 was incredibly tight with South Korea, Chile, and Sweden each finishing 5-2. The tiebreaker went to the Koreans for their eighth division win. In Division 3, Canada narrowly took it at 5-2, edging out 4-3 runs from Italy and Peru. The Canadians have the second most elite eight berths with 16.

Division 4 was also very tight with Poland and Venezuela tying for the top spot at 5-2, while Austria and Japan were 4-3. The Poles had the tiebreaker to advance for the fifth time. Mexico rolled to 7-0 in Division 5 for their tenth elite eight appearance. Brazil won Division 6 at 6-1, one better than the Dominican Republic. The Brazilians have advanced 10 times. Colombia and Russia tied for first at 6-1 in Division 7 with the tiebreaker moving the Colombians forward for the seventh time. Last year’s runner-up Puerto Rico was a distant sixth at 2-5. And Division 8 had a first time winner from Indonesia, who won it at 5-2. Taiwan, Norway, and last year’s third place squad Guatemala each were 4-3.

In the Double Round Robin Group A, Canada went unbeaten at 6-0 to earn a 15^th semifinal appearance. South Korea took second at 4-2, followed by Colombia at 2-4 and Haiti at 0-6. The Koreans secured their fifth semifinal berth with the second place finish. Group B had an unusual result as all four teams finished 3-3. Multiple tiebreakers were required and ultimately it was Poland and Brazil who moved forward. This was Poland’s fourth semifinal berth and Brazil’s sixth.

In the best-of-seven semifinals, Brazil outlasted Canada in a seven game classic, sending them to the final for the second time. On the other side, South Korea pounded Poland 4-1 for their fourth finals appearance. Canada officially took third place for the fourth time, while Poland was fourth for the second time.



In the 1969 World Championship, it was guaranteed that we’d have a first time champion as although both South Korea and Brazil had been to the final, neither had won it all. The series went all seven games for the sixth time in history. The Koreans prevailed for their first title and became the first winner from outside of North America since Russia in 1956. They’re also the second entirely Asian country to win, joining Japan’s 1953 title.



Although they were runner-up, Brazil’s Celso Galo was named Tournament MVP. A 25-year old Silver Slugger winning center fielder with Rosario, in 27 starts Galo had 31 hits, 22 runs, 13 home runs, 29 RBI, a .316 average, and 2.2 WAR. American Joseph Ashcraft was given Best Pitcher. A 26-year old lefty with Washington, he had two complete game shutouts with a no-hitter against Guatemala and a two-hitter versus Uruguay, striking out 33. total. He became the second pitcher with multiple no-hitters in the WBC, having tossed one the prior year. He joins Brazil’s Gustavo Telhados, who had no-nos in 1963 and 1968.