other European countries playing baseball, and Germany became one of the five founding members of the Confederation Europenne de Baseball Amateur. Germany played at the inaugural European Baseball Championship in 1954 where they placed fourth and last. In the mid-1950s, many American troops returned to the United States, which had a negative impact on the popularity of baseball in Germany. The next generation were not exposed to the game, and many American coaches returned home. In the 1970s, Germany traveled to Managua, Nicaragua, twice to compete in the Baseball World Cup, but they failed to win a single game, placing last in both tournaments. In 1970, the ABFD was disbanded, and between 1969 and 1981 there was no national champion crowned. By 1979, there was only one club left, the Mannheim Tornados. 1980 to now In 1980, a process to rebuild baseball in Germany began. That year, the German baseball community officially registered the Deutscher Baseball und Softball Verband (DBV) as the governing body with German authorities. The 1. Baseball Bundesliga was reformed in 1982 and is still active. The number of active players has grown from less than 2,000 in 1989 to almost 30,000 players today. The 1. Baseball Bundesliga is one of the most competitive leagues in Europe, just below the Honkbal Hoofdklasse in the Netherlands and the Italian Baseball League. However, the Germans have not had a first or second place finish at the European Championship since the inaugural tournament in 1954. There have still been several German players that were able to sign with MLB clubs in the past 18 years, with Max Kepler and Donald Lutz being the two players to have played professionally at the highest level in the United States. It has been suggested that Kepler's success in particular could have an enormous impact on the popularity of baseball in Germany, as a role model for children. Since 2017, MLB games have been broadcast on German television, with the channels SPORT1, SPORT1 US and DAZN showing more than 75 games a season. Baseball Bundesliga The Baseball Bundesliga, established in 1984, is the highest German baseball league. It is divided into two levels, 1. Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, each with two divisions (North and South) containing five to eight teams each. The regular season is played between March and July, followed by a playoff postseason. The Mannheim Tornados are the only team that has