[FuzzyRussianHat]

Entering the 1970s, Africa was the last populated continent without having a major baseball league within the Global Baseball Alliance. The game had been introduced in various degrees on the continent and like the rest of the world, Africans loved baseball too. But the infrastructure required for any sort of organized leagues would take time to build up. In the immediate years post World War II, the first priority for African peoples was to achieve independence from the colonial powers that had dominated the continent for decades.

Most of the modern nations and borders came into existence in the 30 years following the war, although many of these new countries would be plagued by civil wars and internal strife for many years after. Still, Africa’s independent infrastructure would continue to strengthen and baseball became more and more prominent with organized amateur and semi-pro teams popping up. With Pan-Africanism becoming a more prominent school of thought, some hoped to create a unified baseball structure for the entire continent, similar to Beisbol Sudamerica. However, the logistical and cultural challenges proved to be way too much for that to be feasible. Eventually, Africa would have three different GBA leagues within the continent. With Arab nationalism on the rise, northern African nations would eventually form Arab League Baseball along with western Asian nations. The southern and central parts of Africa would end up in the African Association of Baseball in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, leaders in western Africa began strongly investigating their own potential pro circuit within their part of the continent. Although there is a rich diversity of cultures in the area, there’s more similarity within this region compared to other parts of Africa. Efforts were being made as well for shared financial and political efforts within the region, such as the Economic Community of West African States formed in 1975. Those working to bring big time baseball to the continent focused their efforts and eventually developed what would become West African Baseball. Much of this was spearheaded by MLB Hall of Famer Kaby Silva, a Cape Verde native who wished to spread his love of the game back home.

In its initial alignment, WAB had 20 total teams split between two 10-team leagues. There would not be any divisions within the leagues and no interleague play. The Western League’s teams would be based in Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Bamako (Mali), Cape Verde, Conakry (Guinea), Dakar (Senegal), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Kumasi (Ghana), Monrovia (Liberia), and Nouakchott (Mauritania). The Eastern League had five teams in Nigeria (Benin City, Ibadan, Kano, Lagos, and Port Harcourt), plus Cotonou (Benin), Douala (Cameroon), Lome (Togo), Niamey (Niger), and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).



In the original playoff structure, the first place team earns a bye to the League Championship Series, while the second and third place finishers play a best-of-three hosted by the second place team. Unlike other leagues, the LCS is a best-of-five and the first place team hosts throughout. The two league champs advance to the best-of-seven West African Championship. WAB uses a universal designated hitter and in the earliest years would be viewed as around average for offensive numbers. However, into the 21^st Century, WAB would emerge as the highest offense environment of all the GBA leagues. The first official season would be in 1975.