Greek's season in Las Vegas

Nick Theodorou, who played for the Greek national team at the 2003, is having a solid year so far with the Las Vegas 51s. In 16 games and 52 at-bats, he's hitting .307.

Olympic officials announced

The IBAF has announced the names of the Technical Officials at the Olympic baseball competition in Athens. Riccardo Fraccari (Italy) will be the Umpiring Director, and Miguel Ortin (Spain) and Gaston Paneye (Belgium) will be technical delegates.

More World Cup angst

The drug-testing hurdle may have been overcome, but will the players volunteer to participate given the existing steroid scandals and the stringency of the Olympic anti-Doping policy? Although the article names more Major Leaguers expressing doubts about participating, there is one positive statement: Carlos Delgado "plans to play for his native Puerto Rico".

Play ball!

Major League Baseball and the players' association have finally agreed on a drug-testing policy that meets the standards of the Olympics and World Anti-Doping Agency. This will allow the first professional World Cup to go ahead in 2005. Jack Curry of the New York Times writes that the most likely scenario is a 16-team tournament featuring the United States as the host, and teams from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Japan, Cuba, Taiwan, South Korea, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Australia, China, Canada, the Netherlands and Italy. In a less positive development, it seems that many top players may still agonise over whether or not to play. George Steinbrenner may not allow New York Yankees players to participate, for fear of injury. At least this is sounding like a proper international tournament -- complete with the club vs. country disputes so well-known to international football.

Fanciful ideas

Mike Lebowitz of the Jerusalem Post is tired of meaningless September baseball games between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He suggests a promotion and relegation system akin to those of European football to make games at the bottom of the table late in the season meaningful:

Perpetually mediocre and bad teams in the great soccer leagues of Europe live in fear of the word 'relegation.' In simple terms, this rule basically states that if a team is so bad and falls so far behind in the standings, the team gets demoted to a lesser league. Applied to baseball, a relegated team would be forced to play the following season in Triple A, which is quite possibly where a 100-loss ball club belongs.

Cute idea. It would be great to bring Major League Baseball to Triple-A cities without the trauma of relocating the Expos or inventing new expansion teams. It's too bad baseball's Minor Leagues depend on their relationships as development organisations for one of the major league franchises for their economic survival. Unless they are radically restructured, the Minor Leagues cannot be anything like the lower divisions of the European football leagues. Imagine if a first division football team were staffed entirely by players on loan from a single Premiership club. That is effectively the status of the Triple-A teams in baseball. Why would the New York Yankees allow players under contract with them playing for the Columbus Clippers play against the parent club at the Major League level?

Just not Cricket

Indianapolis Star reader Mike Gaynes is bemused by Brian Lara:

"The only possible conclusion to draw from a 400-run, 13-hour at-bat is that Steve Trachsel has taken up cricket."

Big Leaguers in Germany

Major Leaguers Jay Bell and Don Gordon visited the Stuttgart Reds baseball club in Germany recently, as part of the Pitch, Hit and Run programme.

Football vs. Baseball

In Forbes magazine, Kurt Badenhausen contrasts the Beautiful Game with what Americans call the National Pastime from an American business perspective. Not surprisingly, it doesn't look good for baseball.

As the New York Times reports, this may even be true in what is generally known as a major baseball nation: Venezuela.

Italy Season Starts

Gianluigi Calestani in the Gazzetta di Parma thinks that Bologna should be favourites in Italy's Serie A1. Former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jaime Navarro may make the difference for Bologna. Other teams to watch are the usual suspects: Nettuno and San Marino.

Gauting's Aussie saviour

Following their disasterous opening day in the First Budesliga, the Gauting Indians have found their saviour: Australian Tristian McDonald. The Indians are expecting 200 fans at their home opener in the top flight -- and will be serving free beer to dampen their supporters' tempers should things get ugly on the field again.

Tory Mets fans?

Michael Howard MP, leader of Britain's Conservative opposition, is known to be an an avid baseball fan. As the Daily Telegraph reports:

He is fired with enthusiasm on the subject of the New York Mets. Sitting on a sofa in the corner of his Westminster office, the sun streaming in through immaculate windows, he does an impression of the 12-year-old Brooklyn boy who once told him, bursting with pride, that the Mets were: "The woist team in baseball, Mister!" The accent is not quite Rory Bremner quality, but it demonstrates effort.

Actually, the article is worth reading. Are the Tories trying to position themselves as champions of grass-roots sport?

Hopkins to Germany

Johns Hopkins University, currently atop of the NCAA Divison III tables, will be travelling to Germany for a tournament this summer. The tournament in question is the German Baseball Open, which will be held this July at the home field of the Regensburg Legionäre.

Baseballissimo

The Toronto Globe and Mail has a review of Dave Bidini's book Baseballissimo: My Summer in the Italian Minor Leagues. The book recounts the Canadian musician's summer following the fortunes of Serie B Nettuno Peones.

Rough welcome

Freshly promoted to Germany's top flight, the Gauting Indians received a rough welcome to the First Bundesliga from the Regensburg Legionäre, dropping both games of a double header 16-1 and 10-0.

Fewer foreign-born players in the Bigs

According to the Associated Press, the percentage of foreign-born players is down slightly in 2004, after six seasons of increases. Of the 830 players on opening day Major League rosters, 27.3 percent were born outside the United States. That is 227 players, down from 230 last season. No Europeans yet. Two from the Netherlands Antilles, though, and one from the Dutch dependency of Aruba: Sidney Ponson, who was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands last year.

Brit "one to watch"

According Minneapolis Star Tribune, Great Britain pitcher Drew Bignall is one of ten players to watch in Minnesota prep baseball.

Baseball in Regents Park?

According to GameBids.com, the London Evening Standard today reported that the Active England Fund of Sport England has provided £2million for a new pavilion in Regents Park. The park is earmarked as the site of the baseball and softball competitions should the 2012 Olympics be held in London.

Haarlem Week star rising

Bobby Crosby, who, as a member of Team USA, was MVP of the Haarlem Baseball Week in 2000, is set to replace the Miguel Tejada as the Oakland A's starting shortstop.