The World
Children's Baseball Fair - WCBF,
a non-profit organization, was established in 1989 by World Home
Run Kings Sadaharu Oh and Hank Aaron along with Dr. Akiko Agishi,
Founders
of the WCBF.
The World Children's Baseball
Fair was established in the interest of fostering an environment
of world understanding and cultural exchange through the celebration
of baseball, which became an Olympic Medal Sport for the first
time in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Recognizing that the sport
of baseball promotes teamwork, good health, discipline and friendship,
Mr. Oh and Mr. Aaron conceived the idea of the WCBF as a means
of creating goodwill and fellowship among the children of the
world. Today, countries from
5 continents participate in this global event!
In the inaugural year 1990, the
Summer Week Event was held in Los Angeles, based at the UCLA
campus. The 1991 and 1992 events were held in Tokyo/Chiba City
and Mito City respectively. The 1993 fourth annual Summer Week
Event was hosted by the city of San Diego, California and Miyazaki
City, Japan was the host city for 1994. The site of the 1995
Event Week was Gifu City, Japan and Morioka City, Japan was th
host city for 1996. The city of Nagasaki, Japan hosted the 1997
WCBF Event, followed by Shizuoka in 1998 and Yokohama in 1999.
The event returned to North America in 2000 - it was awarded
to Canada for the first time - and was held in Regina, Saskatchewan,
Canada. In 2001 the event was held in Kanazawa City, Japan;
2002 was in Tanabe and other cities in the Wakayama Prefecture,
Japan; 2003 was in Yamaguchi and other cities, Yamaguchi Prefecture,
Japan; 2004 was held in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Maebashi,
Gunma Prefecture, Japan, hosted in 2005, and Sapporo, Hokkaido,
Japan in 2006. This year, the 2007 event week will be held in
San Juan, Puerto Rico!
Spokespersons and supporters
have included: Joe DiMaggio, Duke Snider, Ernie Banks, Willie
Mays, Reggie Jackson, Lou Brock, Luis Aparicio, Tommy John, Harmon
Killebrew, Steve Garvey, Peter O'Malley, Rod Dedeaux, Tommy Lasorda,
Mrs. Bart Giamatti, Bowie Kuhn, Tim Brosnan, Brooks Robinson,
Mrs. Jackie Robinson, Mrs. Roberto Clemente, and many others.
Most of the supportors have been with WCBF since the first
year and have provided ongoing support.
Television Broadcast has been
provided by ESPN in North America and worldwide except Japan;
and by NHK in Japan.
During the Annual Summer Week
Event, the children, boys and girls 10 to 11 years old, take
part in Baseball
Clinics run by the International
Baseball Association (IBA). and participate in intercultural
activities aimed at improving international understanding. The
emphasis is on learning and having fun, not competition.
To learn more about this special
organization, please explore our Web Site. Feel free to contact
us for more information or if you would like to become a sponsor
or member of our team!
