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Baseball at the Summer Olympics

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Baseball at the Summer Olympics unofficially debuted at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris,[1] and was first contested as a demonstration sport at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. It became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, then was played at each Olympiad through the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The sport was then dropped from the Summer Olympic program, until being revived for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for a single appearance. It is next expected to be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Baseball at the Summer Olympics
IOC CodeBSB
Governing bodyWBSC
Events1 (men)
Summer Olympics
Note: demonstration or exhibition sport years indicated in italics

Olympic baseball is governed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).

History

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Although little was recorded, Olympic baseball first appeared at the 1900 Paris Games.[1] Twelve years later, in 1912, in Stockholm, a United States team played against host Sweden, winning 13–3. An exhibition baseball game was also played at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In 1936, in Berlin, two United States teams played each other before approximately 90,000–100,000 spectators at the Reichsportsfeld.[2] The 1952 Helsinki event was a modified form of the sport, Finnish baseball, played by two Finnish teams. Australia played a one-game exhibition against the United States in 1956 Melbourne and Japan did the same in 1964 in Tokyo. With a crowd of nearly 114,000 spectators, this game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground held the record for the highest attended exhibition baseball game ever until a 2008 American game in Los Angeles.[3]

Leslie Mann, a former MLB player and coach of the United States national team, was an early advocate of bringing baseball to the Olympics. However, baseball's inclusion in the Olympics was opposed by powerful figures like Avery Brundage, longtime head of the United States Olympic Committee who was elevated to president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1952. Brundage was opposed to the "commercialization" of the Olympics, and believed that baseball, as a professional sport, was incompatible with the amateur ethos of the Olympics.[4] Brundage was quoted as saying, "I suspect that if a professional baseball player discovered one day that he could make more money by going back home and laying bricks for a living, he'd go back home and lay bricks."[5]

After a twenty-year hiatus, Olympic baseball (labelled an exhibition sport/event by the IOC) returned but with tournament formatting (1984 Los Angeles). At the 1988 Seoul games, it was termed a demonstration sport. Japan defeated the United States in the inaugural tournament finale in 1984. In 1988, the United States won over Japan.

Baseball was open only to male amateurs in 1992 and 1996. As a result, the Americans and other nations where professional baseball is developed relied on collegiate players, while Cubans used their most experienced veterans, who technically were considered amateurs as they nominally held other jobs, but in fact trained full-time. In 2000, pros were admitted, but Major League Baseball refused to release its players in 2000, 2004, and 2008, and the situation changed only a little: the Cubans still used their best players, while the Americans started using minor leaguers. The IOC cited the absence of the best players as the main reason for baseball being dropped from the Olympic program.[6][7][8][9]

In contrast, Nippon Professional Baseball has allowed its players to compete in the Olympics, and paused its 2021 season for the duration of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021).[10]

At the IOC meeting on July 7, 2005, baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, becoming the first sports voted out of the Olympics since polo was eliminated from the 1936 Olympics.[11] The elimination excised 16 teams and more than 300 athletes from the 2012 Olympics. The two slots left available by the IOC's elimination were subsequently filled by golf and rugby sevens in 2016. This decision was reaffirmed on February 9, 2006.[12]

In the stands during the 2008 bronze medal game between the U.S. and Japan, IOC head Jacques Rogge was interviewed by MLB.com's Mark Newman and cited various criteria for baseball to earn its way back in:

To be on the Olympic program is an issue where you need universality as much as possible. You need to have a sport with a following, you need to have the best players and you need to be in strict compliance with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). And these are the qualifications that have to be met. When you have all that, you have to win hearts. You can win the mind, but you still must win hearts.[13]

It was officially decided in August 2009 at the IOC Board meeting in Berlin that baseball would also not be included in the 2016 Summer Olympics.[14]

On April 1, 2011, the IBAF and the International Softball Federation announced they were preparing a joint proposal to revive play of both sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[15]

On September 8, 2013, the International Olympic Committee voted to reinstate wrestling, defeating the combined baseball-softball bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[16]

Under new IOC policies that shift the Games to an "event-based" program rather than sport-based, the host organizing committee can now also propose the addition of sports to the program alongside the permanent "core" events.[17][18] A second bid for baseball-softball to be included as an event in 2020 was shortlisted by the Tokyo Organizing Committee on June 22, 2015.[19] On August 3, 2016, during the 129th IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the IOC approved the Tokyo Organizing Committee's final shortlist of five sports, which included baseball, to be included in the program during the 2020 Summer Olympics.[20][21][22] Baseball was not included in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but it is expected that it will be included along with softball, in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics due to baseball's popularity in the United States.[23]

Softball Australia, Baseball Australia and the World Baseball Softball Confederation announced their intent to pursue baseball/softball for the Brisbane 2032 programs.[24]

Results

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See also: List of Olympic medalists in baseball
Edition Year Official host Final Bronze medal match No. of teams
Gold medal Score and venue Runners-up Third place Score and venue Fourth place
1 1992   Spain  
Cuba 		11–1
Estadi Municipal de Futbol de L'Hospitalet, Catalonia 		 
Chinese Taipei 		 
Japan 		8–3
Estadi Municipal de Futbol de L'Hospitalet, Catalonia 		 
United States 		8
2 1996   United States  
Cuba 		13–9
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta 		 
Japan 		 
United States 		10–3
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta 		 
Nicaragua 		8
3 2000   Australia  
United States 		4–0
Sydney Showground Stadium, Sydney 		 
Cuba 		 
South Korea 		3–1
Sydney Showground Stadium, Sydney 		 
Japan 		8
4 2004   Greece  
Cuba 		6–2
Hellinikon Olympic Complex, Athens 		 
Australia 		 
Japan 		11–2
Hellinikon Olympic Complex, Athens 		 
Canada 		8
5 2008   China  
South Korea 		3–2
Wukesong Arena, Beijing 		 
Cuba 		 
United States 		8–4
Wukesong Arena, Beijing 		 
Japan 		8
6 2020   Japan  
Japan 		2–0
Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama 		 
United States 		 
Dominican Republic 		10–6
Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama 		 
South Korea 		6
7 2028   United States

Medal table

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Sources:[25][26]

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Cuba3205
2  Japan1124
  United States1124
4  South Korea1012
5  Australia0101
  Chinese Taipei0101
7  Dominican Republic0011
Totals (7 entries)66618

Qualification

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The host nation was always guaranteed a place in the Olympic baseball tournament. The other seven places were generally determined by continental qualifying tournaments. For the 2008 Games, the Americas received two places, Europe received one place, and Asia received one place.

The final three places were given to the top three nations at an eight-team tournament held after the continental tournaments. Qualification for this tournament was determined by those continental tournaments. The third and fourth place American teams, second and third place European teams, second and third place Asian teams, first place African team, and first place Oceania team competed in that tournament.

This qualification tournament was new for 2008. It was created after heavy criticism of the previous qualification standard. In previous Olympics, only two teams from the Americas were able to qualify for the Olympics, despite the fact that the vast majority of the top baseball-playing nations in the world came from this region. Europe, whose baseball nations were substantially weaker, also entered two teams.

Competition

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Olympic baseball was nearly identical to most professional baseball. Aluminum bats were disallowed after 1996 Atlanta. There was also a mercy rule that was invoked if a team was winning by 10 or more runs after 7 innings (or 6.5 innings if the home team was leading). For Sydney 2000, rosters were expanded to 24 players.

The tournament consisted of a round-robin preliminary round in which each team played all 7 of the other teams. Only the top four teams advanced to the medals round. In that round, semifinals were played between the 1st/4th place teams and the 2nd/3rd place teams. The semifinal losers then played a bronze medal game, with the winner earning the medal and the loser receiving 4th place. The semifinal winners played in the final, which awarded the winner a gold medal and the loser a silver medal.

During the 2008 games, a unique rule went into effect during games which went into extra innings.[27] If the game was still tied after the completion of the tenth inning base runners were automatically placed on first and second base with no outs.[27] IBAF created this rule to encourage scoring late in the game in order to determine a winner and to address criticisms from the IOC that a baseball game's length was unpredictable.[27]

Participating nations

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The following 18 nations have taken part in the baseball competition. The numbers in the table refer to the final rank of each team in each tournament.

Nation 92 96 00 04 08 20 28 Years
  Australia   7 6 2     3
  Canada       4 6   2
  China         8   1
  Chinese Taipei 2     5 5   3
  Cuba 1 1 2 1 2   5
  Dominican Republic 6         3 2
  Greece       7     1
  Israel           5 1
  Italy 7 6 7 8     4
  Japan 3 2 4 3 4 1 6
  Mexico           6 1
  Netherlands   5 5 6 7   4
  Nicaragua   4         1
  Puerto Rico 5           1
  South Africa     8       1
  South Korea   8 3   1 4 4
  Spain 8           1
  United States 4 3 1   3 2 5
Total nations 8 8 8 8 8 6

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Mallon, B. (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. History of the Early Olympics Series. McFarland. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-7864-0378-3. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  2. ^ "The XIth Olympic Games Berlin, 1936 Official Report" (PDF). p. 498. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 January 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Record crowd watches Dodgers v Red Sox exhibition". Reuters. 31 March 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  4. ^ Sayuri Guthrie-Shimizu (2012). Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War. UNC Chapel Hill. p. 168.
  5. ^ "THE EMBATTLED WORLD OF AVERY BRUNDAGE". Sports Illustrated. 30 January 1956. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  6. ^ Gems, Gerald; Borish, Linda; Pfister, Gertrud (27 February 2017). Sports in American History, 2E: From Colonization to Globalization. Human Kinetics. ISBN 9781492526520.
  7. ^ Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (2001). Official Report of the XXVII Olympiad (PDF). Vol. 2: Celebrating the Games. Canberra, Australia: Paragon Printers Australasia. pp. 176–9. ISBN 0-9579616-0-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  8. ^ "The Olympic Team No Dream". CBS News. Associated Press. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  9. ^ OlympicTalk (8 January 2021). "Tommy Lasorda, only manager of World Series, Olympic champions, dies at 93 - OlympicTalk | NBC Sports". Olympics.nbcsports.com.
  10. ^ "Baseball is back: Japan marks Olympics return with walk-off win". NBC News. 28 July 2021.
  11. ^ "They'rrre out! Olympics drop baseball, softball". NBC Sports. Associated Press. 9 July 2005. Archived from the original on 3 May 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2008. Rogge has basically conspired against the sports to get them removed
  12. ^ de Vries, Lloyd (9 February 2006). "Strike 3 for Olympic Baseball". CBS News. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  13. ^ Newman, Mark (23 August 2008). "IOC: MLB players needed for 2016 bid". MLB.com.
  14. ^ Wilson, Stephen (13 August 2009). "Golf, rugby backed by IOC board for 2016 Games". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  15. ^ "Baseball, softball consider joint bid". ESPN. Associated Press. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Wrestling gets reinstated for 2020 Olympics". ESPN. Associated Press. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  17. ^ "IOC allows summer or winter Olympics in two countries; baseball, softball get second life". Chicago Tribune. December 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  18. ^ "Olympic Agenda 2020 Recommendations" (PDF). IOC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 November 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  19. ^ "Baseball, softball among 8 sports proposed for 2020 Games". ESPN.com. 22 June 2015.
  20. ^ "Olympics: Skateboarding & surfing among possible Tokyo 2020 sports". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  21. ^ "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". Olympic.org. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  22. ^ "You're in! Baseball/softball, 4 other sports make Tokyo cut". USA Today. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  23. ^ Brown, Maury. "Baseball Will Not Be Part Of 2024 Summer Olympics, But Breakdancing Will". Forbes.
  24. ^ "Cricket leads charge for sports seeking spot at a 2032 Brisbane Olympics". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 February 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries". olympanalyt.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  26. ^ "Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries". olympanalyt.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  27. ^ a b c "IBAF changes rules for extra-inning games in time for Beijing". ESPN. Associated Press. 25 July 2008. Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2008.

Sources

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