World Baseball Classic players representing 10 different countries have been named to an All-WBC team, with Japan and Puerto Rico leading the way with nine representatives each. All-time WBC individual leaders in various statistical categories through the end of the 2017 tournament, excluding qualifier games. Batting Pitching The winning team of each World Baseball Classic is rewarded a large silver trophy as its primary recognition. The two trophies earned by Japan during the inaugural and second classics have been on display at the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. In addition to the standard rules of baseball, the World Baseball Classic employs the following
Origins of baseball as in baseball. When Englishmen came to America, they brought stoolball with them. William Bradford in his diary for Christmas Day, 1621, noted (with disapproval) how the men of Plymouth were "frolicking in þe street, at play openly; some pitching þe barre, some at stoole-ball and shuch-like sport". Because of the different versions of stoolball, and because it was played not only in England, but also in colonial America, stoolball is considered by many to have been the basis of not only cricket, but both baseball and rounders as well. Another early folk game was "dog and cat" (or "cat