In aftermath of Olympic shutout, baseball’s 7-nation European World Cup called a hit

After Olympic shutout, baseball WCup is a success

NETTUNO, Italy — International baseball officials are starting to get over the shock of being shut out of the Olympics, and the recently concluded World Cup was hailed as a success in spreading the sport’s reach in Europe.

The United States beat Cuba 10-5 in Sunday’s final to cap a 22-team tournament spread over seven countries, several of which were almost completely new to baseball.

“New stadiums were built in Sweden, facilities were renovated in Croatia. It has certainly contributed to the development of baseball in Europe,” said Italian baseball federation president Riccardo Fraccari, who plans to run for the presidency of the International Baseball Federation later this year.

In Italy, 16 cities hosted games and Sunday’s final in Nettuno drew a sold-out crowd of 5,000 despite a starting time that coincided with Italian league soccer matches. Games were broadcast on the MLB Network in the United States, Eurosport2 across Europe and on local networks in Cuba, Venezuela and Italy.

“This has really been the first world championship of baseball in every sense of the word ‘world.’ We’ve never had this many countries involved, this many teams and this many cities,” Fraccari said. “This has been quite a response and the Olympic movement should take notice. This sport is alive and growing, even in Europe where we all know football is the top sport.”

Baseball was a full medal sport at the Olympics from 1992-2008. Unable to deliver the top professionals, it was dropped from the 2012 program in a 2005 International Olympic Committee vote.

Baseball officials decided last year to move its biannual World Cup from Cuba and stage it across Europe in an effort to make the sport more visible for IOC members. That went for naught when the IOC’s executive board decided last month not to reinstate baseball to the program for the 2016 Games.

Instead, the IOC is recommending golf and rugby sevens at its meetings in Copenhagen beginning this week.

“I’ve always learned that when you think things are down you start leading a parade,” said Harvey Schiller, the outgoing IBAF president. “We’re saying, ‘You know what? We’ll make baseball the biggest sport in the world.’ And that’s the plan.”

Spain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic also hosted games, and in Germany first-round attendance over four days numbered 36,000.

The tournament did have its troubles, with crowds as small as 150 watching some games affected by bad weather.

“It’s all a matter of time. It’s new, or fairly new, here in Europe, and it’s going to take a little time to cultivate. We’re glad we can be a part of it. I thought it was a very successful tournament, other than the travel,” United States manager Eddie Rodriguez said after his team played 15 games in 10 different cities over 18 days.

The World Cup features players just below the major league level. The sport’s international showpiece is now the World Baseball Classic, which features the top professionals.

Schiller suggested the classic will likely include more teams at its next edition in 2013, with the possibility of an international All-Star game.

Japan won the first classic in 2006 and defended its title in March.

“The Classic will be in its own right far bigger than any Olympic baseball tournament could ever be,” Donald Fehr, the head of MLB’s players association, said while watching the final in Nettuno. “The perception was that baseball needed the Olympics, but that was mostly held by Olympic people, and in fact I think it’s quite the reverse.

“I think they will discover over time as baseball continues to grow and its popularity internationally continues to grow, that the Olympics will come back to baseball,” added Fehr, who indicated he would be interested in aiding the next IBAF president when he steps down as union head soon. “Part of the problem quite frankly is that it is not widely played in Europe and the overwhelming majority of IOC members are European and they want sports that they know. I don’t think there’s anything more involved than that.”

Fraccari’s chief opponent in the December IBAF election will likely be John Ostermeyer, an Australian who is currently the IBAF’s secretary general.

While Fraccari wants baseball to keep fighting to get back into the Olympics — with the top professionals — Schiller is of the belief that the sport should drop those efforts for now.

“We did everything that they asked — every single thing — and we were still rejected, so what’s the next step?” said Schiller, a former executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, adding that the IOC has indicated the next opening won’t come until the 2024 Games.

“Sports have the obligation of controlling themselves, not being controlled by outside sources. I’m a big Olympic fan, it would be great to be in, but they don’t want us. How would you feel? Business is business.”