1957 European Championship

From BR Bullpen

The 1957 European Championship was the 4th European Championship. It was held from July 7 through July 13, 1957 in Mannheim, West Germany. Co-sponsored by the US Army, it was one of the most poorly-run European Championships. Players were housed in military barracks, the Washington Post reported "empty stands", there was no official scorer assigned to the first game and the German players assaulted the umpire (from Belgium) in the 6th inning one game because he was drinking beer during the contest. It would be 12 years until Germany would be allowed to host another European Championship.

 Netherlands easily won, outscoring their opponents 36-2 for their second title in a row.

 Germany had its best finish, at 3-1, despite their poor job as hosts. They lost 9-0 to the Netherlands but otherwise played well. Jürgen Helmig and Claus Helmig pitched all but 4 innings for the team.

 Italy won Bronze at 2-2, a disappointing year for them.

 Spain finished 4th at 1-3.

 Belgium lost all four of its games, though they only fell by 3 to Spain.

Source: Baseball in Europe by Josh Chetwynd