OLYMPIC BASEBALL GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Baseball, eight times a demonstration event at the Games, makes its debut on the Olympic programme in Barcelona in 1992. Dr Robert Smith, IBA President, explains what entry into the Olympic programme has meant to all those who worked so hard to get baseball that Olympic seal of approval, and what effect its new status is having on the sport.
A sport in which the whole body is involved.
By Robert Smith
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ctober 13th, 1986, will always stand out in my memory as the most important day in the history of international amateur baseball, for that was the day on which the IOC voted baseball into the Olympics as a medal sport beginning with the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Spurred on by its official Olympic status, international baseball has made great advances and enters the 1990s as one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. I want to talk about some of baseball’s achievements, but first I think it’s important to go back to that October day in Lausanne, Switzerland, to give credit where credit is due, and try to explain what the IOC vote meant to everyone connected with international amateur baseball.
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At the time, those four gentlemen averaged more than 15 years apiece as key leaders for international baseball. We celebrated that evening, but our celebration encompassed far more than just the five of us. Our thoughts and words turned to the many other men who had campaigned for the Olympic baseball effort. To me, four names stand out from the 1970s, when I first began working for international baseball. They are Manuel González Guerra of Cuba, Carlos Garcia of Nicaragua, Bruno Beneck of Italy and W.P. “Dutch” Fehring of the United States. Guerra, an IOC member and the president of the Cuban Baseball Federation and Cuban Olympic Committee, holds the title of honorary president for life of the International Baseball Association. He has worked close on 50 years for international amateur baseball. Garcia, the former leader of baseball in Nicaragua, probably logged more air miles on behalf of Olympic baseball than anyone during the 1970s. Wherever the IOC met, he was there, keeping the dream alive. Beneck, Europe’s top baseball leader for so many years, recognized what Olympic baseball could mean to baseball on his continent, and personally introduced the sport into several countries. Fehring, former president of the U.S. Baseball Federation, helped guide a merger of the two existing international baseball organizations in 1975 to form AINBA, which eventually became the IBA. Fehring’s influence during those years ignited my desire to be a part of the Olympic baseball campaign. There were others, many others, during the 1970s who contributed to the dream. Although I am leaving out many who should be named, I can recall Jong Nak Kim of South Korea, Miguel Oropeza of Mexico, Alfredo Morales of Colombia, Osvaldo Gil of Puerto Rico, Charles “Chick” Parsons of the Philippines, Gaston
Messrs Manuel González Guerra and Robert Smith, the first IOC member in Cuba and life honorary president of AIBA, and the current holder of the post.
BASEBALL CAMPAIGNERS
As president of the International Baseball Association, I was accompanied that day by Eiichiro Yamamoto of Japan, Aldo Notari of Italy, Cas Pielak of Canada and the late Guus van der Heijden of The Netherlands.
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and Roger Panaye of Belgium, in addition to the men with whom I celebrated in Lausanne on the night of October 13th, 1986.
LOS ANGELES, THE TURNING POINT
The Olympic baseball dream took on a new dimension in 1978 when the 1984 Summer Games were awarded to Los Angeles. Thanks to the generosity of Peter O’Malley of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the entire international baseball family was invited to be guests of the Dodgers for an AINBA Congress in 1979. It was at that meeting that the names of Peter O’Malley, Bowie Kuhn and Rod Dedeaux began to be synonomous with international amateur baseball. Each was extremely busy : O’Malley as Dodgers president, Kuhn as commissioner of Major League Baseball, and Dedaux as president of Dart Transportation and baseball coach at the University of Southern California, but beginning in 1979 hardly a month went by when we did not share a conference telephone call to form plans for baseball’s growth. As AINBA president, I was in the position of carrying out those plans, but I want the record to be clear that those plans never would have been fulfilled without their help and guidance. International baseball leaders who came to Los Angeles in 1979 also met a man named Peter Ueberroth, who of course went on to run the very successful 1984 Summer Games and become Major League Baseball commissioner. It was Ueberroth who first fought to have the baseball demonstration games included in the 1984 Games, and then to get the demonstration games more significantly recognized. The IBA also owes a great debt to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose honesty and advice were invaluable. I remember so well that in the closing news conference of the ‘84 Games, Mr Samaranch told reporters that baseball deserved to be the next sport added to the Summer Games. That was a major turning point in the campaign. We did not celebrate the success of the 1984 Games for long, but rather began
pointing towards the 1988 Games in Seoul. In 1985, when we were trying very hard to get baseball included as a demonstration sport in Seoul, U.S. President Ronald Reagan wrote a letter to Korea that made known his hope and desire that baseball would be included. Soon after that, baseball and taekwondo were announced as demonstration sports for 1988, another building block in the process.
A popular game.
OLYMPIC STATUS...
The campaign went on. On July 29th, 1986, the IOC Programme Commission heard proposals from seven sports seeking medal status. The commission recommended men’s baseball. Finally, on October 13th of that year, the IOC upheld the commissions recommendation and voted to include baseball as a medal sport of the Summer Games. The moment represented the fulfillment of a grand dream for me, all those I have mentioned, and many more that deserve mention. More importantly, it
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opened doors long closed to international amateur baseball and offered incentive for countries to begin baseball programmes. Within 24 hours of the IOC decision, I had four countries request help to begin baseball.
Recent events in Eastern Europe have resulted in requests for assistance in starting baseball programmes from Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. The IBA is sending a delegation of officials to Eastern Europe this spring to discuss development of baseball throughout the region. The African countries of Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia are opening up to baseball, and the IBA is responding to their interest by sending equipment, instructional materials and coaches to conduct clinics. Late in 1989, IBA Executive Director David Osinski visited Zimbabwe and IBA Technical Committee member Jack Stallings helped Nigeria form a national baseball association. More visits to Africa are planned in 1990. In Oceania, New Zealand is energetically building a baseball programme, and Australian baseball is reaching top-level status. Last year the Baseball Confederation of Oceania was formed, an important step in upgrading baseball development among the many, widespread island nations of the region. Guam took advantage of Olympic Solidarity funds to hold baseball clinics in January 1989. Olympic Solidarity will be an important factor in future baseball development throughout the world. In Asia, India and the Philippines have responded to the Olympic challenge by renewing their baseball efforts, and the People’s Republic of China demonstrated its potential by finishing in third place at the 1989 IBA “AA” World Youth Championships for 13-15 year olds. India and the People’s Republic of China now are regular participants in the Baseball Federation of Asia championships. The Americas historically have been a strong baseball region, but efforts are underway to improve the level of play in many South and Central American countries like Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Chile.
Many doors are opened to a sport which becomes Olympic.
...AND GROWTH
Since that day, membership of the IBA has increased from 61 countries to 65. Many more countries have begun to play baseball and have indicated an interest in joining the IBA. The Soviet Union joined in 1988 and will play in its first international tournament this summer at the Goodwill Games in Seattle (USA). Tbilisi, in the southern USSR near the Turkish border, was the site of this year’s European Confederation of Amateur Baseball Congress.
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TEE BALL CATCHES THE YOUNGSTERS
The main tool in IBA’s development plan is a TEE BALL programme initially funded by the International Softball Federation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, and supplied by IBA sponsors Rawlings, Easton, Mizuno, AstroTurf, Sports Specialties and POS. The programme is designed to teach baseball at the grassroots level by sparking an interest in baseball among very young children, and teaching adults how to coach the children. The goal of IBA/ISF TEE BALL is to see youth baseball implemented in schools and recreational programs in countries all over the world. Countries that participate fully in IBA TEE BALL receive instructional publications, baseball equipment and visits from IBA coaches to get the programme started. In its three years of existence, IBA TEE BALL has reached 26 countries and the indications are that it will be one of the organization’s priorities throughout the decade. The IBA holds annual world youth championships at two age levels (13-15 and 16-18). This July, Monterey, Mexico, hosts the 13-15 year-old tournament, and Cuba is the site of the 1990 tournament for 16-18 year olds to be held in late August and early September.
annual event hosted by a different country each year. The future is very bright for the expansion of amateur baseball and the improvement of its technical standard. Below I have listed other IBA objectives that will permit international amateur baseball to achieve its goals : 1) Implementation of a global baseball coaches, for education programme umpires, scorers and officials. In the next few months we will hold clinics in Italy, Nigeria and Brazil. 2) Establishment of an Olympic baseball qualification system that effectively incorporates all five Olympic regions. 3) Expansion of IBA tournaments to allow new baseball countries to play against other developing baseball nations. 4) Strengthening relations with professional baseball in order to pursue joint development goals. 5) Establishment of an IBA Medical baseball implement Commission to research and doping control. R. S. A vital lesson : teaching future champions how to handle the bat.
FIXTURES PRESENT AND FUTURE
At the adult level, the IBA World Championships will be played from August 4th to 19th in Edmonton, Canada, preceded by the IBA Congress on August 2nd to 3rd. The IBA also organizes the Intercontinental Cup, a biennial invitational tournament, and the President’s Cup, which allows developing baseball nations to compete against stronger baseball countries. An important IBA event this year is the long-anticipated, inaugural IBA World AllStar Game, which will feature the top 40 amateur players in the World at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium on August 22nd. It is planned that the game will become an
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