Olympic Baseball in London and Beyond

Baseball was introduced to the international audience when St. Louis hosted the III Olympiad in 1904.  Baseball was played six more times after these games before it was made an official Olympic sport in time for the Barcelona games.

In 2005, baseball and its sister sport, softball, were both voted out of the 2012 games in London.  They become the only sports to be eliminated from Olympic competition since polo was ousted for the '36 Berlin games.  This does not mean that the two sports are gone for good.  There is still a possibility that they may return in time for 2016, granted that other sports do not fill the vacancies.

Much speculation has surrounded the decision, although no official reasoning was provided by the IOC.  The demographic of the IOC tips the scales in favor of Europeans and anti-American sentiment has been used to make sense of the decision.  I think this is an unlikely reason.  If it were true, someone should probably be shot.

There is always a scheduling conflict between the MLB and the summer games.  There is no possible way that the MLB would alter its season to accommodate the Olympics.  The vice-a-versa is also true.  Players from the minors and international leagues make for pretty fair competition.  It's better off without MLB players.

The most commonly used argument for the decision is the seeming dominance of Cuba and the Unites States.  Before the Beijing games, Cuba claimed baseball gold every time except in 2000.  The U.S. beat Cuba in Sydney to nab their only gold medal in baseball.  As for softball, the American women have dominated, winning gold every time until 2008.

The last argument seems to be the most popular and provides the strongest case for bringing baseball and softball back into Olympic play.

In 2008, an undefeated South Korean team trucked its way through the baseball competition.  They won gold with a 9-0 record, defeating Cuba in the final game.  The American softball team entered the gold medal match as heavy favorites, only to be upset by Japan.

Arguments for keeping baseball and softball out include the highly variable length of games and limited participation on a global scale.  Both sports require large amounts of real estate and equipment.  Not to mention that field maintenance is critical.  Integration of the game, particularly in underprivileged countries, is no easy task.  Eliminating baseball from Olympic competition will only impede this cause.

Whatever their reasoning may be, I hope the IOC rethinks their decision and reinstate baseball and softball for 2016.  It was difficult enough for the sports to be integrated into the Olympics.  Now they're gone without receiving a fair chance to flourish.