Although baseball is a minor sport in the UK, the first known baseball game in Scotland was played in 1870. A league was formed in 1891 with Edinburgh University - the first known university team in all of Britain - crowned as champions.
Little more is known about early baseball in Scotland. The sport was rejuvenated, however, in the late 1950s with the presence of the United States Air Force at bases outside of Edinburgh.
The “modern” era of Scottish baseball was established in 1986 when the Edinburgh Royals (now the Diamond Devils) formed and joined the British Baseball Federation. From 1994-1998, Scottish teams played in the BBF’s Scotland Region. But the extensive travel south of the border to play the predominantly English BBF squads led to a declaration of independence, and the founding of Baseball Scotland as it exists today.
The Edinburgh Diamond Devils currently hold the record for most SNBL league titles, with seven.
At the international level, the Scotland National Team established an annual friendly in 1999 with “Auld Enemy” England, with the teams drawing almost 1,000 fans at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. Although Scotland was defeated, the team would earn its first international victory against the English by a score of 18-5 the following year. The annual match would continue to attract the UK’s top baseball talent for at least a decade.
In 2001, Team Scotland qualified for the the Confederation of European Baseball Cup of Cups tournament in Prague - in only the first time ever that a Scottish team entered a European competition.
Since then, both internationally and at home, Scottish baseball has and continues to grow by and through the official governance of Baseball Scotland.