I remember travelling to Johannesburg in 2001 and coming across the South African National Baseball Team in the airport. I spoke with one of the players and he was telling me they had just returned from playing and losing to Australia in the World Baseball Cup.
I'm a big supporter of baseball in South Africa, but it's a shame that they are really the only nation in the world that qualify for the various world cup tournaments by default, simply due to the rest of the continent lagging behind (monetary reasons, etc.); meanwhile, every other continent is able to hold qualifying tournaments every go around.
Hey Matt trust me having played on a couple of these teams mot of the work you do once you get selected is trying to raise funds to travel sometimes trips can cost about $3000 per player