Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith Among Historic Players Named to Tournament Rosters
In a careful archival project, the complete All-American rosters from the 1935 and 1936 National Baseball Congress tournaments have been recovered and verified. These inaugural years of the NBC …
How Two Wichita Institutions Created a Baseball Pipeline That Changed Everything
When Gene Stephenson stood on an empty field at Wichita State in 1978, most people thought bringing back baseball was a lost cause. The university had dropped the sport seven …
When Innovation Meets Tradition at the Heart of America’s Game
Raymond “Hap” Dumont wore a big Panama hat, chewed cigars, and refused to accept baseball as it was. While others saw tradition, he saw possibilities—faster games, better umpiring, glowing baseballs, and …
How One Man’s Dedication to Every Hit, Run, and Record Preserves Tournament History
Ask Mike Dean about any NBC World Series game from the past four decades, and he can tell you who pitched, who won, and probably what the score …
The Story of a Simple Idea That Became the Heart of the NBC World Series
In the summer of 1975, groundskeepers at Lawrence Stadium tried something new. Instead of painting the bases their usual white, they grabbed cans of red and …
Step Up to the Plate and Donate Now
The National Baseball Congress Baseball Foundation is stepping into the batter’s box with something entirely new: “Step Up to the Plate Day,” the organization’s inaugural Day of Giving …
When Major League Baseball announced that the Automated Ball-Strike system would be implemented across all 30 teams beginning in 2026, most observers saw it as a revolutionary leap into baseball’s technological future. But for those familiar with the history of …
On a warm August evening in 1960, something extraordinary happened at Lawrence Stadium in Wichita, Kansas. As the National Baseball Congress World Series tournament buzzed with activity, legendary pitcher Satchel Paige walked onto the field wearing something no one expected …
After nearly a century of Japanese “goodwill tours,” it was not until 2000 that Major League Baseball played a regular season game in Japan. In 2025 in Tokyo, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a pair …
by Jim Kobbe
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the tradition of the National Baseball Congress World Series continued in 2020.
Things were different, of course. The tournament was shortened to eight days for a field of thirteen teams. Fans wore masks and were …