US, Canada May Be Back in 2005 World Cup

News always seems to travel slowly when it comes to amateur baseball, so a decision last month by IBAF (the governing body for international baseball) escaped my eye until just now. It seems that both the U.S. and Canada will be given a last-minute shot to qualify again for the 2005 World Cup. This is the world championship of (amateur) baseball, not to be confused with MLB’s plans for the “Super World Cup”. Both the U.S. and Canada had pulled out of the qualifiers last fall in Colombia due to security concerns and kidnapping threats.

The CBC has reported that the tournament is supposed to take place this spring in Florida and that four other countries who did not qualify the first time around (Italy, the Czech Republic, Nigeria (!?) and Guam) will also take part.