European Baseball Blog

Cheers for new qualification system

2004-09-24T13:05:00.000+01:00

The changes to the Olympic baseball qualification system have been welcomed in the United States, where the few people who care about international baseball are still irked by Team USA's failure to qualify for Athens. For example, the San Jose Mercury News:

All that concern about the United States failing to qualify for the Olympics in baseball tended to overlook the fact that Team USA had been dominant in the qualifying round before being upset in the final round.
...
Now steps have been taken to create a fairer system. The IBA announced Thursday that qualification will now be based on the results of the entire tournament and that single-elimination games will no longer be part of the format.

They fail to notice that the USA still would not have qualified had the new system been in place in 2003. The USA still finished fifth in the Americas qualifying tournament. Only the top four teams from the Americas would have a chance to qualify under the new system. If the Americans were robbed, it was because of a defect in the structure of the Americas qualifying tournament, not the IBAF's rules.

That said, the new system truly is an improvement because it is a workable compromise between the need to ensure representation from many regions and the need to give teams in the overwhelmingly more competitive qualifying regions (Asia and North America) the extra shots they probably deserve. Forget Team USA: last time around was a fluke. They have learned their lesson and will send a stronger team to the 2007 qualifiers. I've never understood why the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, for example, never had a chance.

Baseball still at risk for 2012

2004-09-24T07:40:00.000+01:00

According to the Canadian Globe and Mail, baseball and softball could still be bumped from the 2012 Olympic programme, perhaps to be replaced by rugby, golf, squash, karate or roller sports. I can understand rugby. But roller sports!?! Are they serious?

A historical counter-factual

2004-09-23T19:06:00.000+01:00

Now that the IBAF has reformed the qualification system for the Olympic baseball tournament, only one thing is certain for the top European national teams: the 2007 European Championships will be the hardest-fought ever. Only the winner of that tournament is assured of a place in Beijing.

Here's what would have happened if the new system had been in place during the 2003 qualifying tournaments:

In Europe, only the champions, the Netherlands, would have qualified automatically, along with Cuba and Canada from the Americas and Japan from Asia.

The second-phase global qualifying tournament would have featured Europe's third- and fourth place teams, Greece and Spain, along with Austalia, Chinese Taipei, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, South Africa. The Europeans would have struggled to finish in the necessary top three against this tough field. China is assured the final place as the host country.

Interestingly, even this system would not have afforded the USA a second chance after their dissapointing performance in their Olympic qualifier in Panama.

Europe could lose Olympic place

2004-09-23T18:28:00.000+01:00

The International Baseball Federation has updated the qualification process for the eight places in the baseball tournament in the 2008 Olympics. The changes could mean that only one team from Europe will be at the next Olympics in Beijing.

Under the new system, there will be two phases of qualification. In the first phase, two teams from the Americas, one from Asia and one from Europe will qualify through continental competitions. The remaining three places will be decided in an eight-team qualifying tournament between the third- and fourth-placed teams from America, the second- and third-placed teams from Asia, the second- and third-placed teams from Europe, the African champions and the Oceania champions.

Under the previous qualification system, two teams from Europe automatically qualified. In Athens, there were three European teams because Greece qualified as the host nation.

Olympic baseball grounds crew interviewed

2004-09-23T07:41:00.000+01:00

Athletic Turf magazine (yes, such a thing exists) has an interview with the grounds crew at the Olympic baseball tournament in Athens, Greece this summer, which includes some interesting anecdotes. An older article in the same publications discussed the construction of the facility.

A new diamond in Neunkirchen

2004-09-23T07:17:00.000+01:00

In a windswept ceremony this week, the local club in Neunkirchen, near Cologne, Germany, began work on its new baseball diamond, the Koelnische Rundschau newspaper reports.

In fact, work has already in progress on the Neunkirchen Nightmares' new field for some time. The builders will have to shift 6,500 cubic metres of soil, so that they can level the playing surface and add a 12-centimeter-deep drainage layer before replacing the topsoil.

The total construction costs are €300,000, but the club is concerned about how it will finance ongoing maintainance in the future. As a result, the club is selling sponsorship of one-square-meter units of its field, with outfield patches going for $euro;5 and pieces of the infield for €10.

Hear, hear...

2004-09-06T14:50:00.000+01:00

Ouch:

"Isn't anybody else embarrassed that the nation that invented the game and won the gold medal in Sydney 2000 was not represented in Athens, Greece? I was. Bud Selig and his mercenaries should be. Every American player who pulls on a big-league jockstrap should be. Don't tell me that a star-quality talent pool couldn't be created in which each club makes three significant American players available for an Olympic draft, in which they give up a month -- at full salary, of course -- for Old Glory."
Japan just did it, recruiting a Dream Team from its professional league. Unfortunately, the hand-picked Japanese stars underperformed and settled for the bronze medal. But imagine if they had had Ichiro, the Matsuis and some of the pitching talent currently over here. Cuba won gold with its youngest team since baseball became an Olympic sport. Fortunately for MLB's spastic organizational abilities, there's a chance the sport will be voted out of the Olympics because so few nations play it at a competitive level - the USA apparently included. Then Bud [Selig] can pursue his dream of a winter World Cup, which is a great idea on paper only, but a must to advance the sport if the Olympics dump it. ...

Blog-ball

2004-09-06T14:26:00.000+01:00

Baseball blogs are news, apparently.

Donovan gets mail

2004-08-30T11:35:00.000+01:00

In a post written a few days ago, I quoted a story by Sports Illustrated columnist John Donovan, who was bemoaning the lack of American representation at the Olympics. It seems many of his readers weren't impressed.

In his replies, however, Donovan finally makes the blunt statement that needs to be made about why we won't be seeing any Major Leaguers in the Olympics:

Timing and money. Major League Baseball generates something around $4 billion in revenue, and the owners are not going to stop the money machine in the middle of the season -- and put their money makers at possible risk of injury -- for mere national pride. It's going to be hard enough to pull off a World Cup, which MLB wants to do in 2006. Stopping the season for the Olympics just won't happen.

A "Quota System"?

2004-08-30T11:06:00.000+01:00

NBC's Matt Vasgersian doesn't like the "quota system" of the current Olympic qualifying system:

As it stands now, two teams from each regional qualifying tournament got bids to come to Athens. In the Tournament of the Americas, Cuba and Canada earned spots while the Dominican Republic, Mexico and others made different plans this summer.
Each of those nations would have better represented international baseball than Italy or the Netherlands, who got in only by virtue of a weak field in their regional qualifier.
It boils down to a quota system and it is not in the best interest of Olympic baseball. None of us wants to watch what is supposed to be the best of our sport internationally and have to compare it to the independent Northern League.

It's funny how American Olympic commentators didn't get worked up about the qualifying system for baseball before it yielded the unexpected outcome of a tourament without Team USA. Once again: discrepancies in regional competitiveness are not unique to baseball, and if this means that some regional qualification tournaments are more competitive than the actual Olympic finals, perhaps the pundits should be paying more attention to them.

Olympic baseball "no slam dunk"

2004-08-30T10:47:00.000+01:00

Gabe Lacques of the LA Daily News is exactly right:

... although [Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud] Selig's tenure has been marked by an increased flow of revenue streams running into the billions (just call it a post-strike survival mechanism), the one area tougher for baseball to cash in on is the global market.
It's no coincidence the NBA's worldwide popularity soared in the decade following Dream Team I, when Michael Jordan became a global icon and Charles Barkley provided the ultimate Ugly American moment by chest-bumping a helpless Angolan, proving there's no such thing as bad publicity.
The NFL can poke under its sofa cushions for spare change and get a developmental league running in Europe. If it's nothing more than a curiosity, no big deal. That league swims in profit.
But baseball, which has force-fed regular season games to Japan and Mexico, has encountered logistical issues cashing in on the global village of sport.

His assessment of the proposed World Cup is also correct:

... it's arrogant for MLB to take the reigns of a global competition, mostly for the sake of its own growth and glory. Japan has voiced concerns about a tournament run not by an international federation, but rather by MLB, one of several obstacles it must scale.

Go read the whole thing

Baseball-style fielding for cricketers

2004-08-30T10:16:00.000+01:00

The Daily Telegraph reports on how a baseball coach improved the Australian cricket team's fielding.

The lessons of the Olympics

2004-08-26T12:00:00.000+01:00

The Olympic baseball tournament, which concluded yesterday with Cuba’s win over Australia in the gold medal game, highlighted some of the absurdities of the politics of international baseball and its tortured relationship to the world’s top professional baseball league.

“I think it’s ridiculous we're not represented,” Houston Astros (and, theoretically, USA) outfielder Lance Berkman told the Associated Press, explaining why he and other American Major Leaguers weren’t watching the Olympic baseball tournament.

This is not a new attitude. When Team USA failed to qualify for the Olympics, their gold-medal-winning manager in Sydney, Tommy Lasorda, reacted with this silly statement:

“It’s a shock and a disgrace that the Americans won’t be represented in the Olympics. Baseball is America’s game. It doesn’t belong to the Japanese or the Cubans or the Koreans or the Italians. This is sad, very sad.”

Lasorda is wrong. America gave (modern) baseball to the world, and it is now a global sport. One Australian silver-medallist summed up the rest of the world’s attitude when he spoke to the New York Times after the gold-medal game:

“There's been such a big deal made about their not being here,” said Australia’s catcher, David Nilsson, the former Milwaukee Brewer. “ They didn't qualify. Move on. Americans are a dominating force in baseball. But other countries are improving.”

The sense of frustrated entitlement in the American baseball establishment is palpable. Sadly, few of those in the aggrieved American baseball players and managers seem to recognise where to place the blame. They should be pointing the finger squarely at Major League Baseball, which won't let the world’s top professionals compete in the world’s top athletic tournament, and is consequentially putting baseball’s status as an Olympic sport at risk.

“I don't really see it because you can’t stop a pennant race,” MLB commissioner Bud Selig said this week.

Why not? One MLB season shortened by about 10 games per team every four years would hurt nothing except the MLB owners’ profits. But the current arbitrary length of the MLB season was only extended from 154 to 162 games in 1962. To put it in perspective, there are 9,720 regular-season MLB games every four years, but the owners are not willing to dispense with about 150 of them — 1.5 percent — for the good of the game’s international development. Decisions based on maximising short-term profits over fostering a long-term globalisation strategy are foolish, and Selig should know better.

If Olympic baseball is going to continue beyond its reprieve to 2008, it must feature the best possible national teams in the world. In the immediate future, this would mean a tournament dominated by dream teams from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the USA. But to justify its inclusion in the Olympic programme, the tournament must also reflect the global spread of baseball. Europe, Oceania, and Africa must be represented, as well as the top teams from the baseball-rich regions like the Americas and North-East Asia. Quick solution: The tournament should be expanded to 12 or 16 teams in two groups.

Even this setup would mean that some of the regional qualifiers would remain be more competitive than the actual tournament. John Donovan of Sports Illustrated makes a valid analogy:

It’s great for globalization and all that — heck, nobody wants an eight-team tournament in the Olympics with six teams from the Western hemisphere — but the qualifying setup is a little like putting the Cardinals, Dodgers, Braves, A’s, Red Sox, Yankees and Angels all in one division. With no wild card.

Tough. It’s not unusual in other Olympic sports for some national trials to be closer than the actual gold medal events. It’s also the norm in the global tournaments of other team sports. Nobody complains when good European or South American teams fail to qualify for football’s World Cup while an inferior team like Saudi Arabia does. It makes those qualifying games more interesting television.

Doping is another area where there is tension between the need to integrate top professionals and the ambition to globalise the sport. American professional baseball has less stringent standards than the World Anti-Doping Agency, a fact which was a major point of dispute in the negotiations to set up a baseball World Cup.

Although overshadowed by the doping scandal involving various track and field athletes, baseball had its own doping scandal this year. Three U.S.-based players representing Greece and Italy were excluded from the tournament due to doping violations.

Olympic baseball is facing a legitimation crisis caused by the incomplete integration of the world’s dominant professional league into the nascient international structures of the sport. Unlike other international governing bodies like football’s FIFA (and even basketball’s FIBA), the IBAF is faced with only one globally-dominant professional league in its sport — one which can affort to look after its own interests at the expense of other national federations’.

Major League Baseball would prefer to abandon the Olympics in favour of a professional World Cup run at a time more convenient to its scheduling. Unsurprisingly, however, the Japanese and Korean professional leagues are not interested in playing ball exclusively on the American leagues’ terms. Globalisation will have to mean international cooperation, and that will mean MLB will have to accept giving up some control over the international game.

MLB must look at the NBA and NHL and realise that this problem can be overcome. Olympic basketball and ice hockey have become exciting professional tournaments despite facing a very similar situation. NBA teams now enjoy a global audience and a rowing global talent pool from which to recuit. If its current priorities don’t change, MLB will never enjoy anything remotely similar, and its owners will face becoming declining, increasingly parochial American businesses, while they watch basketball teams reap the profits from an expanding global market.

Steroids in the Minors

2004-08-25T16:09:00.000+01:00

Jim Storer at Baseball Musings mentions Greece pitcher AJ Brack, who was barred from the Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance, and wonders whether the fact that this "middle reliever for a lousy team in an independent league" was abusing steriods suggests that such abuse is widespread throughout the lower minor leagues of professional baseball.

The other player tossed out of the Olympic baseball tournament for testing positive for banned substances, David Francia of Italy, was also a minor league player. The lax drug testing rules in American professional baseball were a key sticking point when the IBAF was negotiating with MLB about the proposed World Cup. Draw your own conclusions.

European baseball still lagging behind

2004-08-25T09:53:00.000+01:00

Sadly, the San Francisco Chronicle is right. The Olympic tournament, which showcased the top two grasroots-based programmes in Europe and a teamful of ringers from America, shows how far behind we still lag in elite baseball.

Exam Question

2004-08-25T09:46:00.000+01:00

Olympic sports would be better served if women were encouraged to play hardball rather than the pitching-dominated silliness that is women's fast-pitch softball. Discuss.

MLB won't play ball

2004-08-25T09:32:00.000+01:00

What a surprise. Who would have thought that Major League Baseball would refuse to join the international baseball fold and decide, instead, to run its own international tournament?

The MLB.com web site reports that MLB commissioner Bud Selig has "declared dead any movement that would allow Major League Baseball players to take part in the Summer Olympics." Instead, the world's dominant baseball league will be pushing for its own version of a World Cup, despite the fact that it doesn't have some of the key nations on board:

"We've talked a lot about it," said Selig, visiting Jacobs Field on Monday as part of his summerlong tour of baseball cities. "I don't really see it, because you can't stop a pennant race. Imagine now if I said, 'We're not gonna play today for 10 days.' It's not pragmatic."
He said he understood the interest in raising baseball's profile on a more global front, but Selig thought the concept of a soccer-like World Cup or some other international-like tourney might serve the interest of baseball and its fans best.
"I think a World Cup would be spectacular," Selig said. But anything that cut into the heart of the baseball's schedule would do baseball no real good, he said.
"We've spent endless hours talking about it, but I just do see where it's possible," Selig said. "One thing about the race -- I don't have to tell all of you -- it's the build-up. Now, here we are. We have great Wild Card races and some other good races going on.
"To take a week or 10 days off and to send some players and not other players and break the momentum, I don't like it at all."
Selig said his roots as a baseball traditionalist makes supporting participation in the Summer Olympics an idea whose time has not come, and he made clear that it wouldn't come on his watch as commissioner.

This is about MLB wanting to have its cake and eat it too. They want to raise their global profile of the sport for marketing purposes, but also want to maintain control over whatever form professional international competition takes. The idea of cooperating with the established structures of international baseball is just not on their agenda. In the process, MLB has sealed the fate of Olympic baseball, which is difficult to justify if the best teams in the world are not participating.

If basbeall wants to be as global as basketball or ice hockey, they need to follow the NBA and NHL into the mainstream international fold. The sooner Bud Selig realises this, the better for the sport.

Player's nod to Olympic fans

2004-08-25T09:17:00.000+01:00

Greece's Nick Theodorou, a Los Angeles Dodgers farm hand, speaking to the Los Angeles Daily News:

"It's been unbelievable," he said. "These are the best fans I've ever played in front of, and I've played in the College World Series and in minor-league championship series, but it doesn't get better than this.
"Maybe the World Series might be better, but for me so far, it doesn't get better."

Oh yeah... Cuba and Australia in the Gold Medal game this afternoon, not that any TV network in Europe will have the good sense to show it to us.

MLB: Solution or Part of the Problem?

2004-08-23T16:54:00.000+01:00

The Times of London is exactly right in its view of Olympic baseball:

If Major League Baseball (MLB) let its multinational stars compete, baseball would immediately gain Olympic cachet — and the Dominican Republic would have a chance for its first gold medal. But MLB doesn't want to lose top players in mid-season, and instead favors a baseball World Cup to be played in March, starting in 2006.

Major League Baseball's attitude is a big part of international baseball's problems. The big U.S. league needs to take a hard look at its domestic rivals, the U.S. basketball and ice hockey leagues (NBA and NHL), and follow these organisations' approaches to integrating with the international organisation of their respective games.

The Times got its baseball facts wrong, though. The Netherlands are European Champs and Italy is number three. Greece were actually the silver medalists at last summer's European Chapionships.

No medal round for Euro teams

2004-08-22T14:52:00.000+01:00

Australia crushed the Netherlands, 22-2 in seven innings on Saturday, ensuring that the medal round of the Olympic baseball tournament will not include any of the three European teams.

The Dutch then lost on Sunday morning against Chinese Taipei, ensuring a sixth-place finish. Greece and Italy are at the bottom of the table.

Another doping scandal

2004-08-20T12:27:00.000+01:00

Italian Olympic baseball player David Francia has tested positive for nandrolon in a doping control taken in early August, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf is reporting.

The centre-fielder was acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies in the eighth round of the 1996 MLB draft and has played with the Phillies' AAA club Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.

Day 4: Olympic basebrawl

2004-08-19T12:02:00.000+01:00

Yesterday's Olympic clash between Europe's two dominant baseball teams, Italy and the Netherlands, was marred by a bench-clearing brawl in the eighth inning. After the dust had settled, Italy's Francesco Casolari had been ejected and the Dutch went on to win, 10-4.

In the game with a European interest, Canada shut out Greece, 2-0.

The International Baseball Federation web site has photos from Athens.

Day 4: Olympic basebrawl

2004-08-19T12:00:00.000+01:00

In the game with a European interest, Canada shut out Greece, 2-0.

The International Baseball Federation web site has photos from Athens.

Lack of talent at Olympics

2004-08-19T09:21:00.000+01:00

Chicago Cubs scout Gary Hughes tells the New York Times that he did not see much obvious talent at the Olympic baseball tournament:

"A lot of the teams have nobody that you'd have any interest in, just because of age and ability," Hughes said. "But then you start looking, and Japan has an interesting team. They've got a lot of players you've got to at least pay attention to."

Olympics, Day 3

2004-08-17T23:59:00.000+01:00

With all eyes on the clash between gold medal favourites Cuba and Japan Day 3 of the Olympic baseball tournament was not a good one for the European teams. Both the Netherlands and Italy were shut out. The Dutch were beaten 7-0 by Canada, which is now the only undefeated team left in the preliminary stage. The Canadians scored all their runs in the first four innings.

Italy lost 6-0 to Australia and Greece lost to Chinese Taipei, 7-1.

Oh yeah: Japan won, 6-3.

Baseball in Greece?

2004-08-17T12:53:00.000+01:00

Will they Olympic momentum kick start grassroots baseball in Greece? The Chicago Sun-Times reports from one of the national team's games:

It's unlikely this game will be Greece's field of dreams, but who knows? A league has been started in the last few years, and it now has 500 players. The best ones are at the level of American high schoolers. Still, a developer trying to grow the game in Greece handed player Clayton Bellinger his card after the game and asked him to call and help. Bellinger said he would.

Prize for Mainz

2004-08-17T11:10:00.000+01:00

German club Mainz Athletics have wona €5,000 award from the German Sports Federation and Dresdner Bank for "exemplary promotion of talent." The club, which has squads playing at every level of German baseball, claims 273 members, 100 of whom are children or youths. The club's youth teams have 10 coaches, and have won six medals at German champsionships, including four golds.

World Cup may be delayed by one year

2004-08-17T10:32:00.000+01:00

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Major League Baseball owners may announce that they intend to delay the proposed Baseball World Cup until 2006 when they meet tomorrow:

The issue is on the agenda of the owners' meeting that starts Wednesday in Philadelphia, along with a contract extension for Selig and a proposal to launch an all-baseball cable channel similar to NBA TV and NFL Network.

The North American owners have not yet persuaded the Japanese and Korean leagues to participate.

Olympics, Day 2

2004-08-16T23:59:00.000+01:00

News from games on Day 2 of the Olympic baseball tournament featuring the three European teams:

Japan 8, Netherlands 3

Japan came from behind to beat the Dutch team. While many American papers described this as a "pounding", the Japanese Kyodo News service noted that the all-star team from Asia's top professional league looked "shaky" early in the game.

On his web site, Dutch baseball reporter Marco Stoovelaar focused on two controversial umpiring decisions that occured in the game:

In the fifth, with one out, Japanese batter Shinya Miyamoto bunted and was called safe at first base by Dominican umpire Agustin Brea. A crucial call, because television replays showed the batter was out. Moments later, a groundout followed which would have been the third out. Instead, Japan now had a runner on second base with two outs. After a walk, powerhitter Norihiro Nakamura hit an RBI-double to tie the score, followed by two walks which gave Japan a 4-3 lead.
Dutch Manager Robert Eenhoorn decided to bring in Eelco Jansen to relief starter Diegomar Markwell, but then his Japanese colleague suddenly filed a protest, as the Dutch line-up card only listed the ten starting pitchers. It was stated that Jansen therefore was not eligible to come in. What followed was a delay of 24 minutes, after which it was decided by the Technical Commissioners that the change was according to the rules. The Dutch team continued playing under protest, filing a protest of their own for deliberately delaying the game and trying to end the game prematurely by Japan. This protest, however, was rejected within a few minutes.

De Telegraaf also reported the odd incident.

Cuba 5, Greece 4

Jim White of Britain's Daily Telegraph watched the Greeks collect their second loss, at the hands of Cuba, 5-4, and was impressed by the local baseball novices' enthusiasm for the game. "The bleachers in the new baseball stadium were absolutely packed", he reports.

The BBC interviewed Greece's ex-Major Leaguer Clay Bellinger, who was also impressed by the fans:

"We are trying to give a good show and were hoping to be embraced like this," he said of the exuberant if sometimes confused welcome given by local fans.
"They have soccer cheers going on in a baseball stadium," he added. "Hopefully they will realise just how fun a sport it is to come and watch."

Lawrence Donegan of Britain's Guardian newspaper best understood the significance of the score:

The mighty Cuban team last night defeated a Canadian rivet salesman, a mortgage broker, a former New York Yankee and a bunch of guys who raised their hand when a scout walked into baseball dressing rooms from Nebraska to Florida and asked: "Anyone in here Greek?" But it was a close-run thing.
Three runs in the top of the ninth inning by the home team briefly threatened to send the Cubans - a perennial power at the Olympic level - off to the same doghouse occupied by the US basketball team, but in the end they escaped with a 5-4 win over a makeshift team that owes its presence here to the kind of genealogical research once the preserve of the former Ireland football manager Jack Charlton.
...
Bellinger, who actually won two World Series rings as a Yankee, came up with Greece's first run against the Cubans, dashing in from third base on an error by the catcher, Ariel Pestano, at the top of the fourth inning. That cut the Cuban lead to 2-1 and whipped the home fans into something like a frenzy. In a week marked by empty arenas and national anthems bouncing off empty walls, it was heartening to see such a bubbling crowd - even if, in their lack of baseball knowledge, they were occasionally enthusiastic about the wrong things.

Canada 9, Italy 3

"We played badly," Italian manager Giampiero Faraone told the Canadian Press news service. "We actually offered our opponents nine runs. With such a weak defence, it's hard to beat a team as strong as the Canadians."

Olympics, Day 1

2004-08-15T23:59:00.000+01:00

News from games on Day 1 of the Olympic baseball tournament featuring the three European teams:

Netherlands 11, Greece 0

Rob Hughes of the Singapore Straits Times watched the Netherlands rout Greece, 12-0, and was impressed by the international flavour of Olympic baseball. Reporting on the same game, Nick Peters of the Sacramento Bee focuses on the familiar names in the Greek and Dutch teams:

The U.S., remarkably, isn't represented in a sport it invented, yet there was a definite familiarity when the tournament began. Several former major-leaguers dotted the international rosters, and the windy conditions were reminiscent of Candlestick Park.
It was broiling at the main Olympic site, but Helleniko Baseball Stadium is a seaside venue, and the late-summer winds called Meltemi were blowing in from the Aegean. A cloud cover provided some relief.

A leadoff liner by Baltimore Orioles' first-round draft choice Nick Markakis was the first hit in Greek Olympic history. He later added the team's only other hit. The 7,000-seat stadium was about 80 percent full.

Japan 12 , Italy 0

The Japanese all-star team triggered the mercy rule against Italy after seven innings.

In a report about low attendence at the Olympics so far, the Associated Press reported that "barely 5,000 fans were in the stadium, and there were almost as many Japanese fans as locals."

ESPN's headline summed up how lopsided the games have been: Four losing teams score total of one run.

Olympic anecdotes

2004-08-14T10:02:00.000+01:00

Former major leaguer Clinton Zavaras, one of the imported members of the Greek Olympic baseball team, tells the Miami Herald about people-watching in the Olympic village cafeteria:

"Just yesterday, Yao Ming walked by with his cafeteria tray, and a tiny gymnast from Romania crossed past him, and she barely went up to his thigh," Zavares said. "I saw a guy from the Republic of Moldovia, and I'm like, `What is the Republic of Moldovia?' Made me want to find a map and look for it. The village is everything you think it will be."

It's a fun piece about the athletes' life in Athens, worth reading even though there's not any baseball news in it.

Some American Azzurri

2004-08-14T09:35:00.000+01:00

After all the stories in American papers profiling U.S. minor leaguers playing for Greece, these two stories about American-based pitchers for Italy makes a change.

The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel writes up local boy Mike Marchesano, a 28-year-old who will be pitching for Italy in Athens.

Another story about an Italian pitcher appears in the Providence Journal of Rhode Island, this one focusing on 27-year-old former Johnson High School hurler Fabio Milano, who is now the closer for Italian league power Fortitudo Bologna. The interview provides American readers some rare information about the state of baseball in Italy:

About the level of play in the Italian league, Milano says, "I never played pro ball in the States, so I can't compare, but we have a lot of players who played AA, AAA, even a few ex-major leaguers, and they compare the game here to a good AA level. Our team, for example, has some top players who could play AA in the States if they had the opportunity.
"Baseball is not a big sport in Italy, although in Bologna, my city, more kids are starting to come out to play the game."
A game between two professional clubs in Italy may attract about 2,000 spectators.
Last year, Fortitudo won the league championship for the first time in 20 years. The playoffs attracted about 4,000 fans. When the national team plays, up to 9,000 will attend a game, and a European championship game will draw as many as 30,000.
During the season, each professional team is allowed three foreigners, generally a pitcher and two position players. Teams play every Friday night with a foreign pitcher. Every Saturday, a doubleheader is scheduled with local pitchers. Milano has dual citizenship, so he counts as an Italian on the roster, but as a foreigner on the payroll.
"Foreigners are the highest-paid," he says. "It starts at around $800 a month, but some of the foreigners, some of the ex-major leaguers, will make $4,000 to $5,000 a month."

Milano, one of nine pitchers on the Italian staff in Athens, will be a middle reliever for the Azzurri

Olympic Devils

2004-08-14T09:26:00.000+01:00

The El Paso Diablos, a minor league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, has two Olympians -- on two different teams. Phil Stockman plays for Australia, and Pete Sikaras plays for Greece. Diablos general manager Brent Miles told the El Paso Times that his pitchers are "under strict orders to bring back medals."

Johnson: Dutch "have a chance to medal"

2004-08-12T12:16:00.000+01:00

Netherlands assistant coach Davey Johnson says his team may be good enough to win a medal in Athens.

New Olympic programme criteria

2004-08-12T11:49:00.000+01:00

The end of this Associated Press report contains some information about an important development affecting baseball's future as an Olympic sport:

... the IOC formally accepted the criteria for judging which sports should be on the Olympic program. Three years ago, members put off a motion to drop baseball, softball and modern pentathlon from the games, and no changes will be made before the 2012 Olympics.
Among the key points to be considered are global participation, spectator attendance, media interest, the sport's anti-doping policies and whether the sport features the world's best athletes in the Olympics."

This is all bad news for baseball. While case can be made for the global participation criterion, the US professional leagues' bad reputation on anti-doping has been made an Olympic-related issue this year by the two minor leaguers banned from the Greek squad for doping. Furthermore, "participation of its best players" criterion is clearly a jab at Major League Baseball for its unwillingness to cooperate so that the world's best players to compete. A season shortened by a couple of weeks every four years is hardly an imposition, as the National Hockey League has shown.

Europe Elite camp

2004-08-11T09:11:00.000+01:00

From a Major League Baseball press release:

Major League Baseball International (MLBI) will stage the fifth Europe Elite Baseball Camp in Amsterdam, Holland, from August 11-15.
The event, which will offer top-flight instruction to the best young baseball players in Europe, will take place at Sportpark Ookmeer. The 2004 Europe Elite Baseball Camp will include 50 of the top 15-to-17-year-old baseball players from 15 different Baseball Federations in Europe including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
...
The Europe Elite Baseball Camp will provide high-level skills training, including hitting, pitching, fielding, catching and base running. National and Junior National-level coaches from each federation will accompany the players and will benefit from the Camp's instruction by participating in many of the activities. The Camp will culminate with an intra-squad game where coaches and family members will be invited to attend.

Netherlands beat Taiwan

2004-08-11T09:07:00.000+01:00

The Netherlands beat Chinese Taipei, 5-0, in the pre-Olympic tournament in Italy. In another game, Japan thrashed an Italian Serie A select team.

Tale of former Swedish star

2004-08-10T10:05:00.000+01:00

Now playing minor-league baseball back in the United States, Jason Glosser's hometown paper in Coles County, Illinois, mentions the pitcher's stint playing baseball in Sweden:

This is Glosser’s fourth year playing professional baseball. He spent his first two seasons as a member of the Karlskoga Bats in the Elite division of the Swedish League in Sweden. He got to play in the Class B All-Europe championships in Belgium against teams from different European countries.

Glosser helped lead the Bats to their first league championship in the history of the team, and was selected as the Elite Division MVP. He had one game in which he pitched, and he struck out 20 batters. He immediately picked up the nickname Bossa, which means “boss of the game.”
Glosser was heading back to Sweden for his third year of baseball when he got a call from an independent league team in the United States. The Bisbee-Douglas, Arizona Copperkings of the Arizona-Mexico League contacted him three weeks before he was to leave for Europe.

Presumably the "Class B All-Europe Championships" refers to Karlskoga's appearance in the 2002 European Cup B-Pool in Antwerp, Belgium, in which they finished third.

Banned Greeks named

2004-08-10T09:16:00.000+01:00

The two members of the Greek Olympic baseball team who failed their drugs tests have been named. They are lefthanded pitcher AJ Brack and reserve-team outfielder Derek Nicholson.

Greek players in Olympic doping scandal

2004-08-09T12:23:00.000+01:00

Two of the Greek-American members of the Greek national baseball team have tested positive for a substanced banned in the Olympics, according to Reuters:

Greek baseball team spokesman refused to give the names of the two players who failed their first drug test until a second had been carried out. But he said it was "100 percent that two Greek-Americans have failed".
The newspaper Eleftherotypia quoted the Greek baseball federation's Panagiotis Mitsiopoulosone as saying one had tested positive for a steroid and another for a diuretic "in the first sample taken by the Greek Olympic Committee".
One had advised in advance that he was taking a prescription diuretic medicine for a medical condition. The second case involve the banned steroid stanozolol, the drug that wrecked the career of Canadian 100 metres runner Ben Johnson after winning in the 1988 Seoul games.

Stanozolol is an anabolic steriod sold under the trade name Winstrol in the United States, and is used to treat hereditary angioedema. In March, use of the same perfomance-enhancing drug led to the suspension of a member of the Australian Olympic baseball team.

B-Pool in Germany

2004-08-07T17:14:00.000+01:00

In the losers' bracket of the European Championship B-Pool in Germany, Isreal claimed fifth place< by beating Finland, 16-2, and Austria took seventh place by beating Hungary, 14-6.

In the first of today's semifinals, Slovenia leads Ireland, 2-1 in the fourth inning. The hosts, Germany, face Serbia and Montenegro this evening.

Ukraine wins B-Pool

2004-08-07T17:03:00.000+01:00

No official reports are in yet, but a post on the forum of the other B-Pool tournament in Germany reports that the Ukraine beat Belgium in the European Champsionship B-Pool tournament in Poland to advance to next year's A-Pool tournament.

Pre-Olympic Tournament results

2004-08-07T16:55:00.000+01:00

The Netherlands beat Italy, 5-3, in yesterday's opening game of the Pre-Olympic International Baseball Tournament in Nettuno, Italy. The game, originally scheduled for Thursday, had been postponed due to rain.

In yesterday's other game, Cuba dispatched Chinese Taipei, 4-0.

Today, the Netherlands meet Canada and Italy face Chinese Taipei.

Club tournament rundown

2004-08-06T10:20:00.000+01:00

Dutch international baseball journalist Marco Stoovelaar provides a comprehensive rundown of the results of all the major European club tournaments.

Pre-Olympic tournament starts in Italy

2004-08-06T10:19:00.000+01:00

The pre-Olympic international baseball tournament in Nettuno, Italy began last night. The hosts, along with fellow Olympic baseball squads from the Netherlands, Canada, Chinese Taipei, and Cuba will be competing. The opening game last night featured the two European sides.

Germany still dominating B-Pool

2004-08-06T10:07:00.000+01:00

Hosts Germany continue to dominate the European Championships B-Pool, after notching their third successive 20-run victory with a 23-1 drubbing of Hungary.

In the other games yesterday. Ireland beat Serbia and Montenegro, 5-3; Finland edged Austria, 13-12; and Slovenia beat Israel, 6-4.

The results mean that undefeated Germany and Ireland have won their groups. They will play the second-place teams from the opposite group today in the semi-finals. Ireland will meet Slovenia in Fuerth and Germany will face Serbia and Montenegro in Regensburg.

In the consolation group, Israel plays Finland and Austria meet Hungary.

Enhanced security at B-pool

2004-08-05T09:43:00.000+01:00

The national team of Israel, which currently playing in the European Champsionships B-Pool in Germany, is the subject of additional security precautions, the tournament's official web site explains:

04.08.2004 - (MR/ML) "The game is simply symbolic", explained Superintendent Thomas Aumüller the extended safety precautions at the game of the German national team versus the Israeli team. "The political events, the terror threat, causes us to tighten measures" so the officer-in-charge of the police in Fuerth.
All games of the Israeli team take place in the baseball stadium in Fuerth since it can be guarded better. Thus at the game on Tuesday many police officers were among the crowd - and looking more closely, one noticed the agents of the Israeli secret service Mossad.
"So far the games proceeded without any incidents", said Aumüller contently. Also the fans in Regensburg could see, that the police really gives everything to secure the Israeli team since at the opening game a part of the stands was reserved and separated for the players from Israel.

On the field, there were wins on Wednesday for Serbia and Montenegro (16-9 over Finland), Germany (23-0 over Slovenia), and Switzerland (16-3 over Hungary.

With just today's games left in the group stage, the hosts are the dominant team in the tournament, leading Group A with a 3-0 record, including two games won by more than 20 runs. Newcomers Israel have been the big surprise, winning two games before encountering Germany -- good enough for second place. Ireland and Serbia and Montenegro are undefeated atop Group B. That will change this afternoon when the two teams meet in the first game at Fuerth. The other significant contest is the battle for second place in Group A between Israel and Slovenia. Elsewhere, Finland and Austria will battle for third place in Group B, and Germany should have no problems with winless Hungary.

More about the Greek team

2004-08-04T08:38:00.000+01:00

There are some more profiles of the American baseball players playing for Greece in the Olympics. With the team practicing at Camden Yards, the Baltimore Sun writes up Orioles farmhand (and 2003 Number 1 draft pick) Nick Markakis. The same article reports that Greek coach Dusty Rhodesthinks the Olympic facilities will prevent a lot of home runs:

"We've got an outside shot [at a medal]. Our pitching's not as strong as the other clubs', but the field over there is a tremendous field, and I really believe the wind is going to make a big difference. This time of year, it blows 25 to 30 mph, 24 hours a day. That's going to keep balls in the ballpark."

In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the attention is on Brewers minor league pitcher and local boy Jared Theodorakos. The article repeats the story of how the team was assembled, including one infrequently-reported fact: that the Greek government passed legislation exempting its ringers from the compulsory military duty that Greek men normally have to serve.

The article also touches on the controversy surrounding the small number of Greek-based players in the squad, which Dimitris Goussios of the Hellenic Baseball Federation loudly objected to last week:

But John Kazanas said Goussios is "way off-base." Kazanas is a Normandy High graduate who helped assemble the team and is administrating and co-coaching it in the wake of the recent sudden death of head coach Rob Derksen. Also a longtime scout for major league teams, Kazanas noted that Goussios had failed to provide him with evaluations of local players when asked and simply "is not a baseball guy."
Moreover, he said, in a country that had one baseball field five years ago - on an abandoned U.S. base - there just aren't enough developed players to field a team that wouldn't be repeatedly humiliated.
"They have no clue how good these Olympic teams are; they think they can just show up and play," Kazanas said in a phone interview from the Netherlands, where he was scouting. "A lot of these guys (in Greece) couldn't play for high school programs" in the United States.
Kazanas said he is going to address the issue with Goussios when the team arrives. First, he said, he would tell Goussios to look each player in the eye and try telling him he doesn't belong on the team.

Oh dear, oh dear.

B-Pool Results

2004-08-04T08:10:00.000+01:00

Yesterday's results from the European Championships B-Pool in Germany: After two surprising wins, newcomers Israel lost to Germany, 32-0. Slovenia beat Switzerland, 14-11. And Ireland notched their second win, beating Austria, 8-2.

MLB attempts to save World Cup

2004-08-03T11:18:00.000+01:00
A MLB official has met with Japanese and South Korean baseball officials, trying to salvage the proposed baseball World Cup, which the two Asian baseball powers oppose in its current form.

B-Pool results

2004-08-03T00:32:00.000+01:00

Today's results from the European Championships B-Pool in Germany are now in. First-time participants Israel gained their second win, beating Switzerland, 6-5. Slovenia beat Hungary, 7-5; Ireland overwhelmed Finland, 25-5.
Ireland's star was pitcher Brendan Bergerson, an Indiana resident who plays for West Virginia University.

Czechs fifth in Taiwan

2004-08-02T09:48:00.000+01:00
The Czech Republic beat Canada, 4-2, to take fifth place at the World University Baseball Championship in Taiwan.

B-Pool results

2004-08-02T09:38:00.000+01:00

First news from Regensburg and Fürth: Serbia-Montenegro beat Austria, 10-5; Isreal topped Hungary, 7-6; and the hosts, Germany, beat Switzerland 12-2.
Update: Ha'aretz has noticed the Israeli win.

Israel playing in B-pool

2004-08-02T09:33:00.000+01:00

The English-language version of Ha'aretz has a story about Israel's national baseball team, which is in Germany to compete in the B-pool European Championships. The Israelis will be underdogs at the tournament: this is their first ever major competition. But they have a star in 25-year old pitcher Shlomo Lipitz, who plays college ball for the University of California, San Diego. The paper reports that although players are banned from speaking to them, scouts from the Florida Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates organisations are expected to be attending the tournament.

Helping cricketers' fielding

2004-08-02T09:16:00.000+01:00

Baseball players are often horrified by the low standard of fielding skills in cricket. But at least some of the biggest cricket teams in the world have recognised that they can learn or thing or two by adopting baseball's approach to fielding and throwing. For example, former Great Britain player Julien Fountain is helping the West Indies cricket team

The Greek story -- again

2004-07-31T12:04:00.000+01:00
This time from Baseball America

Olympic Baseball "Euro-centric"?

2004-07-31T11:57:00.000+01:00
Baseball America thinks the Olympic baseball tournament is "Euro-Centric". With three European teams competing-- Italy, the Netherlands, and the hosts, Greece, who qualify automatically -- I guess this is true:
“What’s needed is for IBAF (the International Baseball Federation) to have a better understanding of how it can sell international baseball, which is very unique,” said Baseball Canada national team director Greg Hamilton, whose nation will make its first trip to an Olympic diamond. “International baseball is a tremendously worthy cause. But to sell it, it would really help to have the best teams to be in the best tournaments.
“There needs to be an environment that gives the best teams a fair opportunity to earn a spot in the Olympics. Also, the notion that Europe should have equity with the Americas and Asia in terms of the number of teams it gets in the Olympics doesn’t make sense.”
The problem is that European parity makes perfect sense for a global tournament. If Europe doesn't have parity, is is more difficult to justify having an Olympic baseball tournament at all. If baseball is percieved as a minor, regional sport, it will be much easier for the IOC to remove it from the programme altogether.

Baseball facilities cause council spat

2004-07-31T11:01:00.000+01:00

In Heidenheim, Germany, the extention of baseball facilities for the local baseball club is causing a political spat on the local council because of the project's spiraling costs -- local taxpayers' expense.
The Heidenheim Heideköpfe play in Germany's Bundesliga. According to the Heidenheimer Zeitung, they are are planning to build a new Baseball Center including an indoor batting cage and a clubhouse with showers, changing rooms, toilels, a first-aid facility, and an umpires' changing room. Financing it is the problem: The state government of Baden-Württemberg has already signaled its intention to pay €255,000 toward the project, because the Heidenheim club's facility is a regional centre for excellence, but an additional €168,400 are needed. The club intends to raise half from its sponsors, but wants the city council to raise its contribution to cover the rest. The existing part of the club's facilities has already cost €962,000 to build. This including €622,000 of the local council's money, and some on the council are balking at providing even more money to a minority sport.
The Christian Democrats support the increases, but the leader of the Social Democrat group on the council, opposes the plans to extend funding, which he sees as a using a "bottomless barrel" of public money. The additional funding, he said, was not justifiable in terms of the public interest and that of other athletes in the town.

Athens Olympic Blog

2004-07-30T08:32:00.000+01:00
The Athens Olympic Games Blog has a solid baseball section. Check it out.

Olympic preview

2004-07-30T08:30:00.000+01:00
NBC baseball commentator Matt Vasgersian provides a (rather poor) preview of the main contenders in the Olympic baseball tournament, from a very MLB-centric perspective. There's a summary of the story of the Greek (-American) team, but Netherlands or Italy are dismissed with scare quotes as "perennial baseball powers". Wouldn't it be funny if the Netherlands beat Cuba again, like they did during the Sydney Olympics? Vasgersian also fails to mention Chinese Taipai, whose inclusion as an Asian representative means that the 2000 bronze medalists, Korea, will not be participating.

Netherlands Olympian

2004-07-30T08:14:00.000+01:00
Pitcher Ferenc Jongejan of the minor league Daytona Cubs will be a member of the Netherlands Olympic baseball team.

B-pool Euro Championships

2004-07-29T11:28:00.000+01:00
German TV station ARD has a profile of Germany pitcher Henning Fries, who is competing in the European Championships (B-pool) in Regensburg and Fürth. The teams completing for promotion to the A-pool are: Austria, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the hosts, Germany.

Cricket ground for baseball

2004-07-29T09:25:00.000+01:00

New York's Jewish Week newspaper reveals and interesting factoid about the home of the minor league Staten Island Yankees, which ties in with the recent story in Britain's Guardian newspaper about the transition from cricket to baseball in 19th Century America:
The [Staten Island] Yanks’ home, Richmond County Bank Ballpark, just yards from the ferry terminal, was built on the old St. George Cricket Grounds, home for the original New York Metropolitans who called Staten Island their major league home in 1886 and ’87. The great Lipman Pike — the first Jewish major leaguer, who four times led the league in homers — went hitless in his one game for those primordial Mets.

Lasorda on Olympics and MLB World Cup

2004-07-29T09:21:00.000+01:00

Former USA national team (and of course, LA Dodgers) manager Tommy Lasorda,is still disappointed about the USA's failure to qualify for the Olympics. As the Idaho Statesman reported:
Tommy
Lasorda helped provide one of the signature moments of the 2000 Summer Olympics. He led the U.S. baseball team, a band of unknown minor-leaguers, to its first gold medal since baseball became an official Olympic sport.
This year, the Americans won't even be in Greece. Olympic baseball qualifying offers just two spots to "the Americas," which includes baseball-rich countries such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.
The U.S. went 3-0 in pool play with three straight shutouts, but lost to Mexico in the single-elimination portion. Here's what Lasorda, who wasn't involved with the qualifying team, had to say about the state of U.S. Olympic baseball:
What was your reaction when you found out the U.S. wouldn't get to defend its gold medal? "It hurt, it hurt a lot ... to believe our country is not in the Olympics in baseball."
A manager had not been selected for the Olympics. Did you have any interest in managing the Olympic team again this summer? "If they wanted me to, sure."
USA Baseball doesn't consider the qualifying system balanced because of the power in the Americas region. What do you think? "I don't know too much about the system. I know I'm really disappointed we're not in it."
What made your Olympic team so successful? "They were a bunch of young guys who had a lot of heart and wanted to do something for their country."
Would you manage again in 2008? "If I could, I would, without a doubt."
Major League Baseball is talking about a World Cup that would involve major-leaguers during the offseason. What do you think of that idea? "I think it's a great idea. It would be great for baseball, no doubt about it."

Coumnist: "Scrap Olympic baseball"

2004-07-29T09:17:00.000+01:00

I don't agree with him, but Chicago Tribune sports columnist Philip Hersh makes the best argument yet for why why Olympic baseball should be scrapped. While the IOC won't risk offending individual sports federations by implementing this, Hersh thinks the following philopsophy should be applied to trimming the increasingly unwieldy Olympic program:
No more sports, or events within sports, that appeal to or are dominated by only a few of the 202 nations coming to the 2004 Olympics.
No more sports for which the Olympics aren't the most important competition.
Applying this principle, and throwing in a few sports he just considers "silly" or elitist, Hersh argues that baseball (along with softball, basketball, football, tennis, modern pentathlon, synchronized swimming, boxing, equestrian, Taekwondo, rowing, sailing, canoe-kayak, synchronized diving, and trampoline) ought to be scrapped.
He may have a point in insisting that the Olympics be the key tournament in a given event. However, Hersh fails to understand how important having a sport on the Olympic programme is to having its grassroots development funded in countries where it is a minority pursuit. Just because they won't win medals any time soon, just the potential of fielding an Olympic team in one of these obscure sports will mean that its develompent is taken seriously at the national level.

Czechs lose to Japan

2004-07-27T09:53:00.000+01:00
Japan beat the Czech Republic, 6-0, at the World University Baseball Championship.

Cricket in America

2004-07-27T09:51:00.000+01:00

Sneering commentaries about the relative merits of cricket over baseball are a staple of British sports writing. But I'm willing to tolerate a screed of this genre by Steven Wells in the Guardian, because it's a noble attempt at a historical explaination of why baseball emerged over cricket in the United States, despite cricket's propularity in the colonial era. Well's explaination is cricket's snobbishness is to ~~blame~~ thank:
American cricket shot itself through both kneecaps to avoid physical contact with the working classes. When the rest of the cricketing world embraced professionalism (cricketing code for "let the oiks have a go"), the American cricketing establishment remained stubbornly elitist. Many clubs abandoned the game altogether and turned to golf and tennis. This happened all over the USA. Except, bizarrely, in Philadelphia.
In England, this snobbery is still holding cricket back from drawing the levels of athletic professionalism and attendence that baseball enjoys in the United States.
Unfortunatly, amongst this interesting analysis, Wells spews the usual nonsense:
So why did baseball win out? Not because it's less boring. Trust me on this. The only time baseball gets even slightly exciting is when a batter actually manages to hit the ball. This happens so infrequently that you could read a book between home runs.
Note to all baseball-bashing cricketers: baseball types think cricket is boring for the opposite reason: because the batter rarely ever fails to hit the ball -- and isn't forced to run when he hits it poorly! Learn to appreciate the art of pitching and understand the limitations on the batter, and baseball becomes much more entertaining. Contrary to well-worn cricket snobbery, baseball is not a game of bashing the ball with brute force! Cricketers interested in going beyond mutual ignorance would be well advised to read the book by Kent (and occasional England) cricketer Ed Smith, Playing Hard Ball.

Baseball in Belfast

2004-07-27T09:40:00.000+01:00
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on efforts to build baseball diamond in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Orioles say Greeks have cash

2004-07-26T09:55:00.000+01:00

The strange pre-Olympic odyssey of the Greek baseball team continues. The Baltimore Orioles, whose Greek-American owner Peter Angelos was instrumental in setting up the team, are now saying the Greek team does have all the money it needs.
O's spokesman Bill Stetka said: ''We were surprised to hear that. It's a non-issue. The flights have been arranged, and the cost already covered, through a cooperative effort by the Orioles, major league baseball, the Greek Federation and the family of Peter Angelos.''

More trouble for Greece

2004-07-23T17:08:00.000+01:00

The BBC is reporting that the Greece's Olympic baseball team is stranded in America, where they are training in the runup to the Olympics. The president of the Greek Baseball Federation, Panos Mitsiopoulos, says that his team has recieved just one-third of the £200,000 it had been promised for Olympic preparations.

Greek coach threatens to quit

2004-07-23T08:40:00.000+01:00

Greece's Olympic baseball team coach Dimitris Goussios threatened to resign yesterday when his 24-man roster, containing just two local players, was named. According to the Associated Press:
"I feel very bitter. . . . I've been used and I feel insulted as a person and as a coach," Dimitris Goussios said. "I'll fight this up until the last minute."
...
Goussios said he wasn't consulted in the team selection and argued that at least six homegrown players should have been chosen to guarantee that the sport has a future in Greece.

Seventeen teams play in a five-year-old Greek baseball league.

Greece, a nation of 11 million people, is relying heavily on those of Greek descent to find athletes in baseball and other sports that are largely unfamiliar in this country.
Male athletes granted summary citizenship for the Olympics have been made exempt from Greek military service.
"Of course the American-born players are of higher quality and we warmly welcome them as part of Greece . . . but this is unfair. Many of the local players have proven their value over the past year," Goussios said.
Goussios may not like the fact that there are only two locally-based players on his team, but he will have to contend with the fact that some of his North American ringers are bitter that there are any proper Greeks there are there at all. Back in June, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the American professionals were losing their patience with the five native-born Greek players who were then part of his roster. One of the American-born players, Cory Harris, had complained: "We're dealing with 30- to 35-year-olds who have the talent of 10-year-old Americans". Oh, such wonderful clubhouse chemistry!

A Hawaiian in Holland

2004-07-22T09:00:00.000+01:00
Hawaiian catcher Chad Sakumoto, is playing for Robur '58 in the Netherlands.

Olympic baseball massage therapist

2004-07-22T08:57:00.000+01:00

Here's an odd one from the student newspaper at the University of Minnesota: one of their graduates, Marcia Swanson, beat out 400 other applicants to become one of 100 memebers of the Sports Massage Team for the 2004 Summer Olympics. "Swanson will work specifically on international baseball players," the Minnesota Daily reports.

INSEP baseball impresses

2004-07-22T08:50:00.000+01:00

Jonathan Weaver, a sixteen-year-old from Maryland who holds both American and French citizenship, is a member of France's Junior National Team which competed at last year's U16 European Championships in the Netherlands. He will be moving to France this summer and will be training at the French National Institute of the Sports and Physical Education.
His father, Scott Weaver, is impressed by the level of baseball training at INSEP:
"I was blown away with the level of competition," said Scott Weaver, who played college baseball and who is a pilot for American Airlines. "They ran it like a college program or even a single-A or double-A minor-league team. The on-campus [facilities] houses 9,000 students. They've been playing baseball in France for 20 years. They're more into baseball than you think."
At INSEP, Weaver will be working toward his French Baccalaureate, but may eventually go back to the the United States or Canada to play college ball.

Germany expels top club

2004-07-22T08:12:00.000+01:00

In Germany, the baseball federation has expelled one of its leading clubs from the country's premier league competition. The Cologne Dodgers were excluded from the premier Bundesliga after the club failed to appear for a game in Solingen. Under the League's rules, a club can be expelled if it is found to have violated league rules on three occasions in one season. All of the games played by the club this season were reclassified as 9- or 7-0 forfeits, and Cologne will be relegated to the second Bundesliga for next season. Cologne's participation in regional leagues is not affected.
This is the second controversy surrounding Cologne this season. In May, the club angered the German federation by forcing a legal precident that applied the so-called Bosman Ruling to German baseball.

Bush's baseball buddies

2004-07-22T08:01:00.000+01:00
Major League Baseball types have done very well under President George W. Bush. Five baseball owners are major Bush campaign contributors who have been rewarded with sought-after European ambassadorships, despite lacking much knowledge of local languages, reports the liberal political magazine Mother Jones. Have these people done anything for the development of their sport in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Switzerland?

Welsh baseball?

2004-07-16T18:49:00.000+01:00

I don't know a thing about the game called "baseball" in Wales. All I know is it's not the same game I refer to by that word. According to one web site I found:
Welsh Baseball is an 11-a-side team game played with a wooden bat and a hard ball, mainly in South Wales and parts of north-west England. It differs in several respects, and notably in the matter of equipment, from the more widely-known form of baseball played in the USA. The clothing worn by the players is much simpler and catching gloves and other protective gear is not used. The bat is made of willow and has a flat striking edge which tapers evenly into the handle.
The governing body appears to be the Welsh Baseball Union, based in Newport. The local Member of Parliament, Paul Flynn, writes of his home region:
Even in sport, Grangetown and other working class parts of Cardiff had its own distinctive personality. Only areas of Newport and Liverpool share our devotion to Welsh Baseball. Crowds of up to ten thousand would flock to important matches in parks in Roath and Grangetown. Not only was it the most popular summer sport in the war, it was the only one. Cricket was in hibernation. Few Cardiffians of my age saw a game of cricket before their tenth birthdays.
SABR UK considers the historical relationship between the two variations of the bat-and-ball game.

Pre-Olympic warmups

2004-07-16T08:46:00.000+01:00

European Olympic baseball teams Greece, Italy and the Netherlands will face friendly competitions against the other teams in the Olympic tournament in the runup to the Athens Games next month.
Greece will face Canada on 2 August at Toronto's SkyDome, and again on 4 August at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
Italy and the Netherlands will be at a warm-up tournament in Rome from 7 to 10 August, facing Canada, Cuba and Taiwan.

Jets player joins British cadets

2004-07-16T08:39:00.000+01:00
Thirteen-year-old Adam Jones of Runcorn Jets has been called up to the Great Britain cadet national team. The team will travel to the Netherlands next month for a tournament against teams USA, Canada, Russia, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.
The Liverpool Daily Post reports that the young pitcher has received a £600 sports development grant from Halton Borough Council and £400 from his club's sponsor, Rocksavage Power Company. Additional support will come from donations from the congregation of Brook Chape and Adam's school, the Heath Technology College.

British sports writing "mediocre"

2004-07-16T08:29:00.000+01:00

Writing in the New Statesman, Jason Cowley says that British sports writing is mediocre, whereas there is a long tradition of literary sports writing in America -- particularly in games like baseball and golf.

World Cup delayed until 2006?

2004-07-15T00:28:00.000+01:00
The Arizona Republic is reporting that the proposed professional World Cup may be postponed until 2006 to resolve differences with the Japanese and Korean professional leagues.

Envoys in 13 nations

2004-07-10T09:14:00.000+01:00

Major League Baseball's Envoy Programme, has sent baseball coaches to 13 European nations this summer to teach the fundamentals of the game.
MLB envoys are in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
In addition, the envoys are running baseball clinics for children of U.S. military personnel on bases in Germany, Italy and Great Britain.

World Cup loses top teams

2004-07-09T11:53:00.000+01:00

So much for that idea:
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) officially announced Thursday that it would not participate in the event scheduled to take place next March. The Japan Professional Baseball (NPB) also said they would stay away from the World Cup.
Park Yong-oh, commissioner of the KBO, will met his Japanese counterpart Negoro Yasuchika this weekend to discuss matters of mutual concern and then meet MLB commissioner Bud Selig in Houston next Wednesday to hand over the official decision of the two Asian baseball-governing bodies.
Lack of consideration for South Korea and Japan was outlined as the primary reason for the boycott, the KBO explained. According to the KBO, the tournament is heavily centered on benefiting the MLB and its players association.
Currently 53 percent of the revenues allotment goes to the MLB, the players association and the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), while the rest will be used for prize money and participation fees for the remaining countries.
The NPB also said that the scheduling clash with its domestic league was another major reason for not wanting to participate. With many teams suffering financial problems, several are known to be discussing merging together and the NPB is also considering going to a single-league system.
Park has reportedly suggested forming a steering committee for the tournament composed of the executives from South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. last March, which wasn’t accepted by the MLB side.
Lessons learned: Major League Baseball needs to accept that while it is the 900-pound gorilla of baseball, it is, in the global scheme of things, just one professional league of many. A true professional World Cup will have to be a proper IBAF event, not just a MLB marketing scheme. The problem is that unlike football around the world -- and the domestic baseball competitions of other countries -- MLB is not subject to a governing body which could demand the participation of American players. If it is going to be successful globally, MLB must learn from the NBA and NHL. North American basketball and ice hockey works in international competitions. Why not baseball?

Another Greek player profile

2004-07-08T09:13:00.000+01:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles local boy Nick Markakis, who will be playing for Greek baseball team in the Olympics.
The 20-year-old played for Greece in last year's European Championships in the Netherlands. It was his first trip overseas. Markakis, the national junior college player of the year, was picked seventh in the amateur draft by the Baltimore Orioles, signed for $1.85 million, and now plays for the Class A Delmarva Shorebirds.
He nearly didn't get on the team because it was unclear what position he would play:

The [Greek] team wanted Markakis as a pitcher. The Orioles drafted him as an outfielder. During his final season at Young Harris College, Markakis went 12-0 with a 1.60 ERA, striking out 160 in 96 innings. The left-hander throws a fastball that reaches the mid-90s, a power slider and a change-up one major-league scout described as "plus, plus, plus."
The Cincinnati Reds drafted Markakis twice with plans to let him pitch, but they couldn't agree on a contract. The Orioles picked him in June 2003 as an outfielder, a decision that surprised many in the baseball community, including Markakis. It's not as if he can't hit. His current manager, Bien Figueroa of the Class A Delmarva Shorebirds, compares Markakis' swing with that of the Dodgers' Shawn Green. Markakis set a record at Young Harris College with 21 home runs and drove in 90, but only after being inserted in the lineup when the team's first baseman was injured.
...
Because Markakis was forbidden to pitch, he no longer had a lock on making the Greek Olympic team, as there already was plenty of depth in the outfield.

Japan rejects World Cup

2004-07-08T08:45:00.000+01:00

The Japanese owners have rejected MLB's plan for a professional baseball World Cup. Like some Major League players, they are concerned about the timing of the event in spring training. They also make a valid point:

"The owners object to Major League Baseball hosting the event and feel a third party like the International Baseball Federation should be in charge," said an official from the Japanese office of the commissioner, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If this is to be a proper international tournament, it should be run like one. Now, if only someone would object to how the participating countries are selected!

NAIA team at Robur '58

2004-07-02T09:16:00.000+01:00
The Bowling Green Daily News in Bowling Green, Kentucky, reports on a team of 16 NAIA baseball players who travelling to the Netherlands to play in the Robur '58 baseball series in Den Haag. The team is organised by an organisation called USA Athletes International.

Some links

2004-07-01T21:52:00.000+01:00
Baseball America has excellect article summarising all the problems that the baseball World Cup has overcome and has yet to overcome. Slate reviews a new book about what football tells us about globalisation. And the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports that George Kottaras, who plays for the local minor league team, will represent ~~Team USA~~ Greece in the Olympics.

Italian ticket revenues jump

2004-06-29T19:11:00.000+01:00

Revenues from baseball ticket sales in Italy increased by nearly 80% in 2003, according to a report by the Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori cited by Filippo Fantasia in Baseball.it (translation). Italian baseball gate revenues in 2003 were €301,742.50, up from €167,817.50 in 2002. The increase comes as many other Italian sports are experiencing a decline in gate reciepts. Overall, Italian sports' ticket revenues decreased by 6.8 percent between 2003 and 2002.

Eastern League Player of the Week

2004-06-29T18:42:00.000+01:00
Yurendell Decaster, a member of the Netherlands national team, is the Double-A Eastern League's player of the week:
YURENDELL DECASTER, a third baseman for the Altoona Curve, is the Eastern League's Player of the Week for the week ending June 20th. The Curacao, Netherlands native hit .455 (10-for-22) with one double, four homers, seven runs scored and a 1.045 slugging percentage in six games for the Curve last week. The 6'1", 200 lb. slugger hit safely in all six games he played in last week. Yurendell is currently batting .294 with nine homers, 24 RBI and 30 runs scored in 58 games with the Curve this season. DeCaster, who will be a member of the Dutch National Team for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the minor league phase of the Rule Five Draft on December 11, 2000.

BOB World Cup rumour

2004-06-29T18:22:00.000+01:00
Bank One Ballpark in Pheonix, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, is one of the candidate sites for the proposed baseball World Cup, according to the Easy Valley Tribune.

MLB players' World Cup views

2004-06-29T18:11:00.000+01:00
The Associated Press this week collected some Major Leaguers' views on the proposed World Cup. Here, a summary:

Player MLB Club Country +/- Quote

Jorge Posada NYY Puerto Rico + "Obviously, we'll be playing, doing something," Posada. What's important here is you've got to be loyal to the team. I'd have to ask the Yankees, but I would love to play."

Albert Pujols STL Dominican Republic + "It doesn't matter because if you play, you'll still get in good shape and see some live pitching. You're going to be ready. You just need to respect this game and take it seriously. If I have the opportunity to play, I'm going to play."

Lance Berkman HOU USA - "I don't see how it's going to work here. How are we going to benefit the game with that? The baseball season is so long already, I don't think it will be good to have this thing then. Spring training is kind of when you ease back into things. I think the World Cup would be more appropriate if they played it in the Olympics."

Jeff Bagwell HOU USA ? "It's a nice theory, but the problem is that we have to get guys ready to play and to pitch in the spring. I just don't know how logically that could work. No one would want to take a chance on getting their players hurt. You have the entire baseball season to go after that."

Darin Erstad ANA USA - "If I was perfectly healthy, I still wouldn't do it. Everything I do is geared to helping the Angels, and that's the most important thing."

Alex Rodriguez NYY USA ? "If I'm invited, I'd definitely consider it."

Bernie Williams NYY Puerto Rico ? "I'd like to play, but I don't know."

Ivan Rodriguez DET Puerto Rico + "I would play, no problem. You're still playing, still practicing, so it is not a big deal."

Mariano Rivera NYY Panama - "It would interest me, but I got a job here; the World Cup won't guarantee me anything,"

Daryle Ward PIT USA ? "I think it is a pretty neat thing to put together. It's going to be strange to do it in March. It will be a big adjustment to make."

Jones: World Cup good for baseball

2004-06-29T17:50:00.000+01:00
Cincinatti Reds pitcher and Birmingham (Alabama) News baseball columnist Todd Jones says the propposed professional baseball World Cup could be "the first real big step toward globalization of major-league baseball in 10 to 15 years."

Flat bats

2004-06-29T17:36:00.000+01:00

A columnist in The Journal newspaper of Newcastle, England, writes:
Before our untimely exit from Euro 2004, the Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas was scathing about the English as a nation.
'They eat eggs and sausages for breakfast, drive on the left, play baseball with an oar, set times for drinking and think they are the best.'
I can take the personal abuse and even criticism of our licensing laws but likening cricket to baseball?
Send in a gunboat!"
Hear, hear! I concur with the words, but with the opposite sentiment!

World Cup players might miss most spring training

2004-06-22T09:33:00.000+01:00

The Associated Press reports that players participating in Major League Baseball's proposed World Cup next year would miss much of spring training for the tournament.
The current plan is for a football-style tournament beginnning with a group stage consisting of four groups of four teams, which will start on 4 March in Asia and in the United States and Puerto Rico on 9 March. Italy and the Netherlands are among the teams being considered for participation. The two two teams in each group will progress to a second group round with two groups of four teams, with the top two teams in each reaching the semi-finals, which, like the final, would be a one-game knockout. The final will be held around 21 March somewhere in the western United States.
Not all the players and MLB managers are excited by the opportunity to represent their country, thinking that the sping schedule will be too disruptive to spring training.

Greek Olympic manager dies

2004-06-17T16:42:00.000+01:00
Rob Derkson, the Baltimore Orioles scout and manager of Greece's Olympic baseball team died last night at the age of 44, the London Evening Standard is reporting.
Update: ESPN has the full AP report, including some reaction from the Greece players.

No-hitter at European Cup

2004-06-16T10:15:00.000+01:00

Jesus Mato threw a no-hitter, helping his Italian team, Italeri Fortitudo Bologna, beat the Dutch side Mr Cocker HCAW, 1-0, on the first day of the preliminary phase of the the European Cup "A" Pool. Mato is a 29-year-old righthander from the Dominican Republic.

US sports' globalisation

2004-06-16T08:38:00.000+01:00
The Los Angeles Times has a feature about the growing globla influence on the major American sports. The stress is on basketball, but baseball gets a mention, too.

Australians confident

2004-06-16T08:34:00.000+01:00
Despite losing a player to a doping scandal, Australia are confident about their hopes in Athens. The Age quotes the Australian Olympic Committee's Director of Sport, Craig Phillips:
"Without the USA there, we are a medal chance in baseball and our men's basketball team is ranked fourth.

Israel playoffs loom

2004-06-16T08:21:00.000+01:00

Ha'aretz reports on the pennant race in the 35-game regular season of the Israeli National Baseball League.
DG-Tech Gezer stands as the clear favorite heading into the playoffs, having been further bolstered by the late-season acquisition of Dan Rotem, former Gardner-Webb and Georgia Southern University hurler, who is expected to anchor the senior national team in this summer's European Championships.
The other teams in the running are Tel Aviv A's, Jerusalem and International Sports Properties-Sharon and the Junior National Team.
The article also reports that the Israeli Junior National Team will be playing at a "gala tourney" in Trieste, Italy, in August.

Cupwinners' Cup "A" Pool

2004-06-16T00:01:00.000+01:00

European baseball's club tournament for national knockout cup winners (or league runners-up where such tournaments do not exist, the European Cupwinners' Cup "A" Pool, begins today in Den Haag.
The competing teams are: Minolta Pioniers (Hoofddorp, Netherlands), ADO Den Haag Tornado's (Netherlands), Rojos de Tenerife (Spain), Technika Brno (Czech Republic), Regensburg Legionäre (Germany), Savigny sur Orge Lions (France), and Windsor Bears (Great Britain). A further team, CSC WS Balashikha (Russia), has withdrawn.

Player	MLB Club	Country	+/-	Quote
Jorge Posada	NYY	Puerto Rico	+	"Obviously, we'll be playing, doing something," Posada. What's important here is you've got to be loyal to the team. I'd have to ask the Yankees, but I would love to play."
Albert Pujols	STL	Dominican Republic	+	"It doesn't matter because if you play, you'll still get in good shape and see some live pitching. You're going to be ready. You just need to respect this game and take it seriously. If I have the opportunity to play, I'm going to play."
Lance Berkman	HOU	USA	-	"I don't see how it's going to work here. How are we going to benefit the game with that? The baseball season is so long already, I don't think it will be good to have this thing then. Spring training is kind of when you ease back into things. I think the World Cup would be more appropriate if they played it in the Olympics."
Jeff Bagwell	HOU	USA	?	"It's a nice theory, but the problem is that we have to get guys ready to play and to pitch in the spring. I just don't know how logically that could work. No one would want to take a chance on getting their players hurt. You have the entire baseball season to go after that."
Darin Erstad	ANA	USA	-	"If I was perfectly healthy, I still wouldn't do it. Everything I do is geared to helping the Angels, and that's the most important thing."
Alex Rodriguez	NYY	USA	?	"If I'm invited, I'd definitely consider it."
Bernie Williams	NYY	Puerto Rico	?	"I'd like to play, but I don't know."
Ivan Rodriguez	DET	Puerto Rico	+	"I would play, no problem. You're still playing, still practicing, so it is not a big deal."
Mariano Rivera	NYY	Panama	-	"It would interest me, but I got a job here; the World Cup won't guarantee me anything,"
Daryle Ward	PIT	USA	?	"I think it is a pretty neat thing to put together. It's going to be strange to do it in March. It will be a big adjustment to make."