Nick Schonberger & Ian Paley x Ebbets Field 1938 World Champion British Baseball Team Jersey

In August 1938, a representative England baseball squad hosted a five-game international series against Team USA. Matches were played in Halifax, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, and Rochdale, and England took a commanding four-games-to-one victory. The host team, which consisted mainly of players competing in a domestic league in the north-west of the country (the Yorkshire-Lancashire league), had two shut-out victories over their opponents, including a 3−0 win in front of 10,000 spectators at Wavertree Stadium in Liverpool. Team USA, who were preparing for the 1940 Olympics (which were planned for Tokyo but were canceled because of World War II), featured players picked at the National Amateur Baseball Trials in Lincoln, Nebraska. The International Baseball Federation later designated the series as the first official baseball world cup. Since England subsequently came to compete as part of Great Britain, the record books show GB as the first world champions. Fittingly, the shirts that England wore were adorned with the British Union flag, rather than the English cross of St George.” – Joe Gray, author of What About Villa? Forgotten Figures from Britain’s pro baseball league of 1890. In honor of this unfamiliar moment of sporting history, Ian Paley and Nick Schonberger present an exacting replica of the champion’s jersey, produced by Seattle’s Ebbets Field Flannels. Complementing the shirt, Paley and Schonberger also share images from the original program from the fifth and final game of the historic series. Available at Barney’s NYC and Garbstore.