WBSC Headquarters: New chapter in history, exciting future for global baseball, softball
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) last week opened its new, permanent headquarters in Pully, a suburb in the Olympic capital Lausanne, Switzerland. Europe has only recently become the home of international baseball and softball.
After a history spanning 75 years, the International Baseball Federation and International Softball Federation joined together to create the WBSC in 2013. Now international baseball and softball has its own, permanent headquarters in Pully, a suburb in the Olympic capital Lausanne, Switzerland.
The new WBSC HQ, called Home Plate, will be the base where Baseball and Softball World Cups are planned and from where all international competitions will be monitored and sanctioned. From its new headquarters, WBSC will oversee the rollout of Olympic baseball and softball events, in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has its headquarters down the road, and hosts of the Games, such as Tokyo 2020. The new HQ will also serve as the main hub for launching global development initiatives and cooperations.
Home Plate not only represents decades of global international baseball and softball but also heralds in an exciting future for the WBSC, especially with regards to its sustainability targets and innovation.
The opening of the new headquarters, which was limited in guests due to COVID-19 health and safety measures in Switzerland, received plenty of plaudits from the baseball and softball family and international sporting community around the world.
To commemorate the very important day in the history of the WBSC, which included a tree-planting ceremony in memory of WBSC co-founder Don Porter who passed away last month, we look back at the history of the two founding federations for baseball and softball.
