Sports: Baseball's Olympic banishment

Will the World Baseball Classic be the sport's only international tournament?

Mark StarrMarch 5, 2009 14:48Updated May 30, 2010 11:46

Dominican Republic's David Ortiz, center, wraps his arms around teammates Julio Manon, left, and Miguel Tejada in the dugout during an exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., March 5, 2009. The Dominican Republic is preparing for the first round of the World Baseball Classic. (Hans Deryk/Reuters)

Picking between Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro as host of the 2016 Games is not the only major decision facing the International Olympic Committee this year. The 'Lords of the Rings' will also choose between seven sports seeking an Olympic showcase starting in 2016.

There are only two new spots available in the Olympic family and baseball, once a prized member, will be competing with six other sports — softball, golf, rugby sevens, roller sports, squash and karaoke — to land one.

Uh, make that last one karate, not karaoke. But the truth is that baseball has so irritated the Olympic brass that it won’t beat out any of those other sports and probably couldn’t even beat karaoke in a vote. It is hard to imagine any sport doing more to seal its own banishment from the Olympics.

Baseball, which has been an official part of the Games since 1992, has already been booted from the Olympic lineup for London 2012 so it is actually seeking reinstatement. The IOC was so angry at the baseball establishment that, as almost an afterthought, it kicked out softball too, unfairly perceiving it as nothing more than women’s baseball.

But softball, having courted the IOC voters and put on a stellar show in Beijing, has a good shot at a second chance. So when the international baseball federation suggested that the two sports unite and make a joint proposal for reinstatement, the ladies’ game wisely demurred, not wanting to be saddled with all the hardball baggage.

Baseball has been having just the kind of spring that confirms every IOC concern, particularly about a Major League Baseball drug-testing program that doesn’t approach Olympic standards.

The sport is enduring another string of major embarrassments: Alex Rodriguez’s admission of drug use; Barry Bonds upcoming perjury trial relating to steroids use, Roger Clemens reportedly facing indictment for lying to Congress about his steroids use, Miguel Tejada pleading guilty for lying to federal investigators in another steroids matter; and a burgeoning drug and financial scandal involving MLB prospects in the Dominican Republic. Is it any wonder that the IOC thinks good riddance and none too soon?

Of course, the disagreement over drugs was not really the most contentious matter between the Olympics and baseball. While the IOC was clearly distressed about baseball’s failure to police itself more effectively, it was even more upset that Major League Baseball refused to send its most illustrious players, including some of those drug cheats, to play in the Olympics.

Baseball has taken an almost singular approach. Most major sports and sports leagues have been thrilled to be a part of the Olympics. The NHL as well as the professional tennis tours interrupt their seasons every four years to showcase their stars in an Olympic tournament.