As a tradition, the WBSC recognise those people that contributed to the development and to the foundation of the World Baseball Softball. For this Congress WBSC awarded the Order of the Honour Award and, for the first time, the Order of the Golden Diamond.
The Order of the Honour Award was presented to Mr Ryozo Kato and Mr Katsuhiko Kumazaki, while the Order of the Golden Diamond was awarded to Mr Dale McMann.
Order of the Honour Award
The WBSC Order of Honour represents the supreme honour awarded to those persons who have acted in such a way as to illustrate the ideals of baseball/softball and their outstanding merits in favour of the development of our sport and who have rendered exceptional services to baseball/softball. Previously, Mr Reynaldo Gonzalez Lopez and Mr Don Porter received this distinction.
Ryozo Kato is a Japanese lawyer and career diplomat who served as the Japanese Ambassador to the United States from 2001 to 2008. He also served as the Commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball. He was instrumental in introducing NPB to international baseball, as well as hosted the 2013 IBAF Congress.
The commissioner for the Nippon Professional Baseball league, Katsuhiko Kumazaki has served as the Commissioner of Baseball (NPB) since 2014. He was a key figure in started the operations of the Premier12 and its continued success. He has been key figure in the return of baseball to the 2020 Olympics.
Order of the Golden Diamond
The WBSC Order of the Golden Diamond awards those persons who have acted in such a way as to develop the ideals of baseball/softball and their outstanding merits in favour of the widening of the horizons and innovation and research within our Sport. This is the first time WBSC present this honour.
Dale McMann involvement in sport is extensive. He served as president of Softball British Columbia between 1986 and 1990 and Softball Canada from 1990 to 2001. He first joined the International Softball Federation (ISF) in 1993 and served as North American vice-president of the federation until 2009, when he was elected as first vice-president. Mr. McMann was appointed President of the ISF in 2013 and served from 2013 to 2017 and a was at the helm during the critical years of the merger of baseball and softball along with initiating a strategic planning of new ideas the future of our sport.
