Overview
The Iran national baseball team () also known as "Team Melli" is the national baseball team of Iran. The team represents Iran in international competitions.
History
Prior to the Iranian Revolution, American high schools, such as Tehran American School and Community School, Tehran, provided extracurricular activities with various sports teams such as baseball, American football, and cheerleading. Following the revolution, baseball waned down in the country before being re-organized in 1991, with an estimated 500 players, coaches and umpires belonging to the national association. Iran baseball committee was founded in 1992. In 1993 it became a federation and continued to function as a federation until 2010, when it became part of Sports Associations Federation. This was largely caused by the inactivity of its national team. Currently Baseball is played in 12 Provinces in Iran. Iran has one stadium specifically designed for baseball in the city of Karaj.
From 1994 until 2009, every year teams representing their provinces participated in a national championship. In 2010, the National Championship games were replaced by a Club Championship League. Club teams were split into a North and South conference with the top two teams in each conference advancing to the playoffs. Since the inception of this league, Tehran's Azarakhsh Club, Bushehr's Naderi Club and Kerman's Mes Club have been able to each win 1 championship. Iran's national team has participated in 5 Asia Cups (1999, 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2015) and has been able to win the silver medal and bronze medal in the Western Division in 2012 and 2015. Iran has won 134 baseball matches and lost 68 baseball matches.
Players
The most notable baseball player of partial Iranian origin is Yu Darvish who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother but has an Iranian father and plays in MLB, although he has not yet received an invitation to the national team.
Managerial history
* Mehrdad Hajian, pre-2009 * Gerardo Yassel Cabrera Moreno, January 2009 * Julio Alberto Hernandez Coste, April 2009 * Mehrdad Hajian, 2012-2014 * Toma Irokawa, January 2015-July 2015
Presidential Cup
2015 Presidential Cup was an international tournament hosted by Iran, it was played from September 9–13 at Azadi Sport Complex which was won by India, other participants were Iraq
Achievements
Asian Baseball Cup - Western Division * : 3rd * : 2nd * : 3rd Iran Presidential Cup * : 2nd